290 FIELD AND HEDGEROW. 



bank pink convolvulus twines round the stalks and the 

 green-flowered buckwheat gathers several together. 

 The sunlight cannot reach the stream, which runs in 

 shadow, deep down below the wheat-ears, over which 

 butterflies wander. Forget-me-nots flower under the 

 banks ; grasses lean on the surface ; willow-herbs, tall 

 and stiff, stand up ; but out from the tangled and inter- 

 laced fibres the water flows as clear as it rose by the hill. 

 There is a culvert under the road, and on the opposite 

 side the wall admits the stream by an arch jealously 

 guarded by bars. In this valley the wall is lower and 

 thicker and less covered at the top with ivy, so that 

 where the road rises over the culvert you can see into 

 the park. The stream goes rounding away through the 

 sward, bending somewhat to the right, where the ground 

 gradually descends. On the left side, at some distance, 

 stands a row of full-grown limes, and through these 

 there is a glimpse of the old manor-house. It is called 

 the old house because the requirements of modern days 

 have rendered it unsuitable for an establishment. A 

 much larger mansion has been erected in another part 

 of the park nearer the village, with a facade visible from 

 the highway. The old manor-house is occupied by the 

 land-steward, or, as he prefers to be called, the deputy- 

 forester, who is also the oldest and largest tenant on the 

 estate. It is he who rules the park. The labourers and 

 keepers call him the ' squire.' 



Now the old squire's favourite resort is the window- 

 seat in the gun-room, because thence he can see a section 

 of the highway, which, where it crosses the streamlet, 

 comes within half a mile of the house. There the hollow 

 and the lower wall permit any one at this window to 

 obtain a view of the road on one of the sides of the 

 valley. At this declivity it almost faces the house, 



