These were for the most part the folk of peculiarly
facile wits and ready powers of adaptation, like pushing
small tradesmen, and the upper servants in county houses.
An indolent and hazy compromise upon Pellesley Thorpe
had drifted into use by perhaps a larger number.
To the puzzled conservatism of the abiding huge majority
nearest to the soil--the round-backed, lumpish men
who tie strings round their corduroys under the knee,
and the strong, cow-faced women who look at passers-by
on the road from the doors of dark little cottages,
over radiant patches of blossoming garden--it seemed
safest to drop family names altogether, and call it
merely the Court.
It stood proudly upon what was rather a notable elevation
for those flat parts--a massive mansion of simple form,
built of a grey stone which seemed at a distance almost
white against the deep background of yews and Italian
pines behind it. For many miles seaward this pale front
was a landmark. From the terrace-walk at its base,
one beheld a great expanse of soft green country,
sloping gently away for a long distance, then stretching
out upon a level which on misty days was interminable.
In bright weather, the remote, low-lying horizon had a
defining line of brownish-blue--and this stood for what was
left of a primitive forest, containing trees much older
than the Norman name it bore.
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