WINTRY SNAI 



CHAPTER XXII 



UNDER THE LEE OF THE NORFOLK SANDHILLS 



ONE autumn the author was the fortunate recipient of a 

 pressing invitation to stay a week-end with a hospitable 

 divine whose living was situated on the bleak level of 

 marshland, bounded by dunes and sandhills on one side and 

 the meres and lagoons of Broadland on the other. The 

 invite was worded in a manner that could not be refused, 

 and on the appointed day the Great Eastern Railway 

 Company conveyed our few belongings to a small wayside 

 station, leaving a dozen miles or more to be negotiated 

 before the welcome walls of the rectory would come in 

 sight. 



Outside the low-roofed shanty, which formed a station 

 of great importance in the eyes of Norfolk yokels, sat our 

 host in a small pony-cart, his genial face beaming with delight 

 on our appearance. The weather was bitterly cold, and after 

 the usual greetings we were glad to settle well down into 

 a big fur-lined coat and suck the pipe of contentment in 

 silence. 



At first the road was sheltered by tall trees, and it wound 

 in and out between narrow lanes with high hedgerows and 

 good banks ; but by degrees the country became more open, 

 the trees less frequent, and the houses on the wayside fewer, 



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