290 FIELD AND HEDGEROW. 
bank pink convolvulus twines round the stalks and the 
green-flowered buckwheat gathers several together. 
The sunlight cannot reach the stream, which runs in 
shadow, deep down below the wheat-ears, over which 
butterflies wander. Forget-me-nots flower under the 
banks; grasses lean on the surface; willow-herbs, tall 
and stiff, stand up ; but out from the tangled and inter- 
laced fibres the water flows as clear as it rose by the hill. 
There is a culvert under the road, and on the opposite 
side the wall admits the stream by an arch jealously 
guarded by bars. In this valley the wall is lower and 
thicker and less covered at the top with ivy, so that 
where the road rises over the culvert you can see into 
the park. The stream goes rounding away through the 
sward, bending somewhat to the right, where the ground 
gradually descends. On the left side, at some distance, 
stands a row of full-grown limes, and through these 
there is a glimpse of the old manor-house. It is called 
the old house because the requirements of modern days 
have rendered it unsuitable for an establishment. A 
much larger mansion has been erected in another part 
of the park nearer the village, with a facade visible from 
the highway. The old manor-house is occupied by the 
land-steward, or, as he prefers to be called, the deputy- 
forester, who is also the oldest and largest tenant on the 
estate. It is he who rules the park. The labourers and 
keepers call him the ‘squire.’ 
Now the old squire’s favourite resort is the window- 
seat in the gun-room, because thence he can see a section 
of the highway, which, where it crosses the streamlct, 
comes within half a mile of the house. There the hollow 
and the lower wall permit any one at this window to 
obtain a view of the road on one of the sides of the 
yalley. At this declivity it almost faces the house, 
