Hugh | Page 4

and lean
together with a picturesque outline. The back of the house forms a little
court, with the cloister of which I spoke before running round two sides
of it. Another great yew tree stands there: while a doorway going into
the timber and plaster building which I mentioned before has a rough
device on it of a papal tiara and keys, carved in low relief and silvered.
A friendly black collie comes out of a kennel and desires a little
attention. He licks my hand and looks at me with melting brown eyes,
but has an air of expecting to see someone else as well. A black cat
comes out of a door, runs beside us, and when picked up, clasps my

shoulder contentedly and purrs in my ear.
The house seen from the back looks exactly what it is, a little old
family mansion of a line of small squires, who farmed their own land,
and lived on their own produce, though the barns and rick-yard belong
to the house no longer. The red-brick front is just an addition made for
the sake of stateliness at some time of prosperity. It is a charming
self-contained little place, with a forgotten family tradition of its own, a
place which could twine itself about the heart, and be loved and
remembered by children brought up there, when far away. There is no
sign of wealth about it, but every sign of ease and comfort and simple
dignity.
Now we will go back to the front door and go through the house itself.
The door opens into a tiny hall lighted by the glass panes of the door,
and bright with pictures--oil paintings and engravings. The furniture
old and sturdy, and a few curiosities about--carvings, weapons, horns of
beasts. To the left a door opens into a pleasant dining-room, with two
windows looking out in front, dark as dining-rooms may well be. It is
hung with panels of green cloth, it has a big open Tudor fireplace, with
a big oak settle, some china on an old dresser, a solid table and chairs,
and a hatch in the corner through which dishes can be handed.
Opposite, on the other side of the hall, a door opens into a long low
library, with books all round in white shelves. There is a big grand
piano here, a very solid narrow oak table with a chest below, a bureau,
and some comfortable chintz-covered chairs with a deep sofa. A perfect
room to read or to hear music in, with its two windows to the front, and
a long window opening down to the ground at the south end. All the
books here are catalogued, and each has its place. If you go out into the
hall again and pass through, a staircase goes up into the house, the
walls of it panelled, and hung with engravings; some of the panels are
carved with holy emblems. At the foot of the stairs a door on the right
takes you into a small sitting-room, with a huge stone fireplace; a big
window looks south, past the dark yew trees, on to the lawn. There are
little devices in the quarries of the window, and a deep window-seat.
The room is hung with a curious tapestry, brightly coloured mediæval

figures standing out from a dark background. There is not room for
much furniture here; a square oak stand for books, a chair or two by the
fire. Parallel to the wall, with a chair behind it filling up much of the
space, is a long, solid old oak table, set out for writing. It is a perfect
study for quiet work, warm in winter with its log fire, and cool in
summer heat.
To the left of the staircase a door goes into a roughly panelled
ante-room which leads out on to the cloister, and beyond that a large
stone-flagged kitchen, with offices beyond.
If you go upstairs, you find a panelled corridor with bedrooms. The one
over the study is small and dark, and said to be haunted. That over the
library is a big pleasant room with a fine marble fireplace--a boudoir
once, I should think. Over the hall is another dark panelled room with a
four-post bed, the walls hung with a most singular and rather terrible
tapestry, representing a dance of death.
Beyond that, over the dining-room, is a beautiful panelled room, with a
Tudor fireplace, and a bed enclosed by blue curtains. This was Hugh's
own room. Out of it opens a tiny dressing-room. Beyond that is another
large low room over the kitchen, which has been half-study,
half-bedroom, out of which opens a little stairway going to some little
rooms beyond over the offices.
Above that again are some quaint white-washed attics