I can
recall now the awakening in the large familiar room that was always kept
for me, and how I lay staring at its chintz-covered chairs, its spaced
fine furniture, its glimpse of the cedars without, and thought that all
this had to end.
I have never been greedy for money, I have never wanted to be rich,
but I felt now an immense sense of impending deprivation. I read the
newspapers after breakfast--I and my aunt together--and then I walked
up to see what Cothope had done in the matter of Lord Roberts B. Never
before had I appreciated so acutely the ample brightness of the Lady
Grove gardens, the dignity and wide peace of all about me. It was one
of those warm mornings in late May that have won all the glory of summer
without losing the gay delicacy of spring. The shrubbery was bright with
laburnum and lilac, the beds swarmed with daffodils and narcissi and
with lilies of the valley in the shade.
I went along the well-kept paths among the rhododendra and through the
private gate into the woods where the bluebells and common orchid were
in profusion.
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