68 WITHIN AN HOUR OF LONDON TOWN. 



CHAPTER V. 



THE FINCH FAMILY. 



" WHAT are you in such a hurry to get your gun 

 for ? " I ask one of my friends, who fills the position 

 of man -of- all- work in the place where I am staying 

 for a time. His post, however, is rather a nominal 

 one, for most of his time is spent in gardening. 



I often have a chat with him, for I enjoy his 

 quaint, original remarks, and although, as a rule, 

 he is not expansive, when he does choose to talk 

 he is always worth listening to. Besides this, he 

 keeps his garden in excellent trim, and if there 

 is one crop in it on which the old boy prides him- 

 self more than another, it is his peas. " No one 

 ken come up to 'em round about here," he has told 

 me more than once, with pardonable pride. 



