102 WHEAT AND WOMAN 



prevented him following his brothers into the 

 Service, and Canada had been selected for him as 

 it is for so many younger sons, because it is generally 

 considered to be the refuge of the destitute warmed 

 by the sun of " the land of Promise." 



Heriot Hylton-Cave was at first inclined to be 

 somewhat homesick, but as he bucked the wood for 

 the kitchen stove, the hall stove, the dining-room, 

 the drawing-room, the study, and two bedrooms, 

 and hauled water from the lake, cleaned the stables, 

 milked the cows, rode in for the mail every day, and 

 on Mondays turned the washing machine, he passed 

 quickly through the phase of home-sickness into the 

 more permanent period of work-sickness. He was 

 a philosopher about many things, and always kind 

 and considerate to the lady-help. Whilst he found 

 the chores — wood bucking and water hauling — 

 distressing from the active point of view, they formed 

 historically for him a theme of which he never tired 

 and over which he could be graphic and amusing. 

 One day I remember seeing my brother literally 

 doubled up with laughter during the happy period 

 after meal-time when men grow interesting to each 

 other. 



" Oh, heaven and earth ! It's Hylton-Cave," he 

 explained. " I wouldn't have missed him for a 

 farm. He has just been reciting to us his list of 

 so many thousand pails of water and ever so many 

 more thousands of poles he bucked at the Mill- 

 ingtons'. I haven't met anything more refreshin' 

 in Canada." 



Once a week Mrs. Millington was at home to her 

 friends — a custom which is increasing in Canada, and 

 is particularly convenient in a country where one's 



