AFTER TEN YEARS 



problems to work out? I know many charming women 

 who enjoy a game of solitaire. This is our solitaire. 

 I know one remarkable intellect who scorns solitaire 

 but takes the keenest delight in deciphering and un- 

 raveling the intricacies of Bradshaw and the Conti- 

 nental time-tables. That is her pet game, as this 

 adorable and unending riddle of a country place is ours. 



At the skeptical friend who said, "We '11 give you five 

 years of it," we cast a look of reproach; whereupon he 

 added: "Well, say ten at the outside. After ten years 

 of this sort of thing" — vaguely waving his hands over 

 our wonderful shrubs with a background of sparkling 

 water — "after ten years of this you '11 be like all the rest, 

 you '11 want something new." 



We reply frankly: "We do like something new, we 

 are fond of variety, and we have found it here. The 

 five years you gave us went by so swiftly that we never 

 had time to count them ; and now ten golden years 

 have passed since first we entered our paradise. We 

 are not peculiar folk: we do not crave monotony or 

 loneliness ; we like a varied existence, and all this we 



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