[Illustration: TEIGNMOUTH NESS LIGHTHOUSE.]
I knew my brother was rather suspicious of boarding-houses, and when we
arrived opposite the rather nice house where the clergyman had taken us
I noticed he looked rather critically at the windows both below and
above. When he saw that the curtains were drawn equally on each side of
the windows and all the blinds drawn down to almost exactly the same
distance, he was quite satisfied, as he had often said it was a sure
sign that there was somebody in the house who was looking after it, and
that similar order would be certain to reign within.
[Illustration: ANSTEY'S COVE. TORQUAY.]
The clergyman was evidently well known to the people at the house, and
an introduction to the master and mistress, and (shall we record?) to
their two daughters as well, placed us immediately upon the best of
terms with the whole family. We received every attention, and after a
good tea we had a walk in and around the town, and were well pleased
with the appearance of Torquay. It was a much larger place than we had
anticipated. In a stationer's shop window we saw exhibited a small
_Guide to Torquay_, published in Manchester, and sold for the small sum
of one penny, from which we learned that the population of Torquay had
risen enormously during the past few years, for while it registered
11,294 in 1858 and 16,682 in 1868, in 1871, the year of our journey, it
stood at 26,477; and it further informed us that the distance from there
to London was 216 miles, and that "the express which leaves Paddington
at 9.
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