Retiring 
so sharp? I asked. “Cuts nails with ’n,” he 
said. That was all. But I have often laughed 
at the recollection of it; not because it was funny 
—plainly not that—but because it was so agree- 
able to be there crossing those quiet pastures in 
company with a man so harmonising with them 
in spirit as his tones sounded. 
But in fact I was never conscious of impending 
breach in that visit I have spoken of. Something 
I had lately heard about a family in my own 
neighbourhood maintaining a parish school long 
ago was suggestive enough of Mr. Morant’s 
influence in old Farnborough to be worth repeat- 
ing tomy uncle. He pointed out another resem- 
blance: the great house at Farnborough, like 
the one I had mentioned, had not after all been 
so imposing as to lead anyone to take it for the 
Squire’s. Schools had come before personal 
agerandisement. Perhaps squires had generally 
taken that view. And this being suggested to 
Mr. Smith, he at once mentioned other families 
with an equally honourable record—the Dumble- 
tons of Hawley, the Halseys of Pirbright. 
Placid talk like this took up all my time that 
day, so far as I remember. About Michaelmas 
—the year was 1906—Mr. Smith, with one 
daughter to fend for him, moved across the road 
into the semi-detached cottage already mentioned ; 
and there he contentedly settled down. He 
113 H 
