1860] WORK IN SOUTHERN COUNTIES 601
to go abroad till quite a different set of places were to be disposed of. Just then a neighbour sent us a Hastings paper with a very humble advertisement marked, " At Ore, a house, with thirty-six acres of land, to be let or sold." " What a horrible place this must be," I said, " for which they cannot find one word of description ; " for the very ugliest places we had seen had often been described in the advertisements as " picturesque manorial residences," " beautiful villas with hanging woods," &c. But my mother rightly thought that the very simple description was perhaps in itself a reason why we should see it, and after breakfast we set off in the little carriage. It was a drive of about fourteen miles. Long before we could arrive at Ore, we passed under a grey wall overhung by trees. "It looks almost as if there might be a Holrnhurst inside that wall/7 I said. Then we reached a gate between two clipped yew-trees,, and a board announced, "This house is to be let or sold." We drove in. It was a lovely day. An arched gateway was open towards the garden, showing a terrace, vases of scarlet geraniums, and a background of blue sea. My mother and I clasped each other's hands and simultaneously exclaimed — " This is Holmhurst! "
The house was let then, and we were refused permission to see the inside, but my mother bought the property at once : she was as sure as I was that we should never like any other place as well.
We found that the name of the place was Little Eidge. There were six places called Eidge in the neighbourhood, and it was very desirable to changeHe is greatly amused by his (irand|»;i|»a*s pla^ motions and comical faces, and tri«*s to imitate th When the school rhildren an* sin^in^ |N*|OW. he puts his forefinger when listening and Irj^ins sin^in^ with iitlle voice, which is \'ery sw«*i*t. He will sit on t!w» and talk in his own wav for a lon^f time. fi*!liii|^ ii! what he has seen if he has Iwen out: his little mitid nn rrchmhr- and the most attractive in Florence. thru