340 THE OLD MANOR HOUSE 



and one even of these, placed in a spot where hardly 

 a ray of the sun can reach it, seems to utter a silent 

 protest against note being taken of any such dis- 

 turbing influence. It protests, in fact, against its 

 own existence. The "swallow" pigeons which sit 

 drowsily on the roof ridges, or on the coigns of 

 vantage afforded to them by the stone work, forget or 

 forego their usual animation ; they preen themselves 

 in silence, and rarely rouse themselves into a flight 

 beyond the sleepy precincts. They too have caught 

 the atmosphere of the place. The house rambles 

 round three sides of the court with sweet meandering 

 irregularity. There is hardly one straight line, one 

 right angle, or one dead level in the whole. It was 

 reserved for modern times to make the discovery 

 that in the Parthenon there was not a single straight 

 line ; and who can say how much of its ideal beauty 

 is due to the secret it has so long and so jealously 

 guarded ? 



The court is on two levels, the higher reached 

 by two short flights of weather-beaten stone steps 

 opposite to each other and meeting on a common 

 landing, which, by their colouring, their shape, and 

 their surroundings, recall the storied flight of steps 

 at Haddon Hall. The retaining wall is built of the 

 small grey bricks of the olden time, which, in their 



