CHAPTER II
"Do you mean, Governor, that you have actually bought the house?"
demanded Dick, "or are we only talking about it?"
"This time, Dick," I answered, "I have done it."
Dick looked serious. "Is it what you wanted?" he asked.
"No, Dick," I replied, "it is not what I wanted. I wanted an old-
fashioned, picturesque, rambling sort of a place, all gables and ivy
and oriel windows."
"You are mixing things up," Dick interrupted, "gables and oriel
windows don't go together."
"I beg your pardon, Dick," I corrected him, "in the house I wanted,
they do. It is the style of house you find in the Christmas number.
I have never seen it anywhere else, but I took a fancy to it from the
first. It is not too far from the church, and it lights up well at
night. 'One of these days,' I used to say to myself when a boy,
'I'll be a clever man and live in a house just like that.' It was my
dream."
"And what is this place like?" demanded Robin, "this place you have
bought."
"The agent," I explained, "claims for it that it is capable of
improvement. I asked him to what school of architecture he would say
it belonged; he said he thought that it must have been a local
school, and pointed out--what seems to be the truth--that nowadays
they do not build such houses."
"Near to the river?" demanded Dick.
"Well, by the road," I answered, "I daresay it may be a couple of
miles.
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