ink the condition of
England's country villages is becoming almost a tragedy; all the men
seem to have gone away to a bigger and wider world, and all the women
to have been left behind to feed on emptiness. There are the
clergyman's daughters, the doctor's daughters, the solicitor's
daughters, and perhaps a few retired veterans and their daughters; all
struggling through the same old empty round; while the men go out to
conquer the earth." She paused a moment, but seeing Meryl's rapt
attention, went on uninterruptedly, "And one day I awoke to the fact
that I had a special right to one of the finest men who had gone out
to do his share, and a special place at his side. To cut a long story
short, I won through the frantic opposition of my family, cut myself
adrift, and came out here to see for myself what Billy was doing that
gave him a satisfaction he had never found in his peaceful easy
living; in spite of the hunger I had always known was wearing out his
soul for me." She looked out across the country dreamily, before she
finished. "I shall never forget when I first saw this," motioning to
the sunny prospect. "We arrived here in the dusk, owing to a
breakdown, and so I had a long night's rest before Billy first showed
it to me. I must tell you I was already tremendously impressed, on the
quiet, with my brown, stalwart, khaki-clad husband in place of the
decorous, black-coated parson I had parted with; and although the
journey had been very exhausting, for I had to travel in the
post-cart, my interest in him and the country had never abated. Then
he opened the door wide about sunrise, and said casually, 'Sit up and
look at my view, Ailsa.' I sat up, and for a moment I could not speak
at all. Do you know, Miss Pym, the country looked positively hung with
diamonds that wonderful morning. I shall never forget it. Just outside
the door, forming a sort of framework to the scene beyond, was some
tall, dry grass, thin and straggly enough to let the light through.
And where at the top it spread into graceful, hanging, feathery
seed-ears, it was hung with large dewdrops, reflecting all the colours
of the rainbow. Behind them was the bluest of early-morning skies.
Beyond them, what you see here, a far dream-country of untold
loveliness. I said, 'O, Billy! have you lived beside this all these
months?' And then I began to cry, because I didn't know what else to
do, and I was so glad that I had come."

A fleeting shadow of sadness