294 BIRDS AND MAN 



From whichever side you approach it the place 

 itself, features and expression, is clearly 

 discerned : in other words, you see Selborne, 

 and not a brick and metal outwork or mask ; 

 not an excrescence, a goitre, which can make 

 even a beautiful countenance appear repulsive. 

 There is, I believe, a station within four or 

 five miles of the village. 1 approached by a 

 different route, and saw it at the end of a fifteen 

 miles' walk. Rain had begun to faU on the 

 previous evening; and when in the morning I 

 looked from my bedroom window in the 

 wayside inn, where I had passed the night, it 

 was raining stiU, and everywhere, as far as I 

 could see, broad pools of water were gleaming 

 on the level earth. . AH day the rain fell steadily 

 from a leaden sky, so low that where there were 

 trees it seemed almost to touch their tops, while 

 the hills, away on my left, appeared like vague 

 masses of cloud that rested on the earth. The 

 road stretched across a level moorland country ; 

 it was straight and narrow, but I was compelled 

 to keep to it, since to step aside was to put my 

 feet into water. Mile after mile I trudged on 

 without meeting a soul, where not a house was 



