114 REMINISCENCES. 



^' Life seems to me, as I look back upon it, to have been 

 very regular in those early days, and except relations (and a 

 few intimate friends), I do not think any one came to the 

 house. After lessons, we were always free to go where we 

 would, and that was chiefly in the drawing-room and about 

 the garden, so that we were very much with both my father 

 and mother. We used to think it most delightful when he 

 told us any stories about the Beagle^ or about early Shrews- 

 bury days — little bits about school-life and his boyish tastes. 

 Sometimes too he read aloud to his children such books as 

 Scott's novels, and I remember a few little lectures on the 

 steam-engine. 



" I was more or less ill during the five years between my 

 thirteenth and eighteenth years, and for a long time (years it 

 seems to me) he used to play a couple of games of back- 

 gammon with me every afternoon. He played them with the 

 greatest spirit, and I remember we used at one time to keep 

 account of the games, and as this record came out in favour 

 of him, we kept a list of the doublets thrown by each, as I 

 was convinced that he threw better than myself. 



" His patience and sympathy were boundless during this 

 weary illness, and sometimes when most miserable I felt his 

 sympathy to be almost too keen. When at my worst, we 

 went to my aunt's house at Hartfield, in Sussex, and as soon 

 as we had made the move safely he went on to Moor Park 

 for a fortnight's water-cure. I can recall now how on his 

 return I could hardly bear to have him in the room, the 

 expression of tender sympathy and emotion in his face was 

 too agitating, coming fresh upon me after his little absence. 



" He cared for all our pursuits and interests, and lived our 

 lives with us in a way that very few fathers do. But 1 am 

 certain that none of us felt that this intimacy interfered the 

 least with our respect or obedience. Whatever he said was 

 absolute truth and law to us. He always put his whole mind 

 into answering any of our questions. One trifling instance 

 makes me feel how he cared for what we cared for. He had 

 no special taste for cats, though he admired the pretty ways 



