2 9 o KINGSCLERE 



vegetables of prize-winner size and succulence, show 

 how completely the trainer, who is heart and soul a 

 gardener, has taken care to have every rood of the 

 ground turned to appropriate account. Everything 

 in season, or, for that matter, ahead of the season, 

 and all of the very best, would appear to be the 

 principle to which effect is given. The green- 

 houses, the orchid houses, the vineries, to the con- 

 tents and management of which only an expert in 

 first-class gardening could do justice, are on a par 

 with the rest of the establishment. The animal life 

 in this beautiful garden is one of its charms. It is 

 pleasant to see the Persian cat, a very very old re- 

 tainer, follow Mrs. Porter about step by step with 

 canine docility. The owls, in happy captivity, in 

 a semi-detached habitation which they share with 

 other pets, do not appear to mind being disturbed in 

 order that they may blink wisely in the daylight for 

 the entertainment of the caller. There is a cat, a 

 lovely creature with a strain of the ' Persian ' in her, 

 that is rightly the property of Mornington Cannon. 

 But she has been a wild cat ever since kittenhood, 

 and, having successfully defied more than one 

 attempt at capture on the part of an organised band 

 of hunters, is now allowed undisturbed liberty. She 

 is often missing for days together, and then she 

 shows herself at a window — mostly at meal times — 

 a sure sign that the larder outside has either become 

 monotonous or is impoverished. Nobody has seen 

 her feed, and yet the plateful of food which is duly 

 placed for her is just as duly emptied. Pat, the 



