orth ever had that was worth having. Not a word
about _that_. People don't give their best things to the country--not
they. Hypocrites! What on earth has he done with them? There are several
things _I want_."

And he fell into a long and greedy meditation, in which, as usual, his
fancy pursued a quarry and brought it down. He took no notice meanwhile
of the objects passed as they approached the Tower, although among them
were many that might well have roused the attention of a landlord; as,
for instance, the condition of the long drive leading up to the house,
with its deep ruts and grass-grown sides; a tree blown down, not
apparently by any very recent storm, and now lying half across the
roadway, so that the horse and carriage picked their way with difficulty
round its withered branches; one of the pillars of the fine gateway,
which gave access to the walled enclosure round the house, broken away;
and the enclosure within, which had been designed originally as a formal
garden in the Italian style, and was now a mere tangled wilderness of
weeds and coarse grass, backed by dense thickets of laurel and yew which
had grown up in a close jungle round the house, so that many of the lower
windows were impenetrably overgrown.

As they drew up at the gate, the Pengarth driver looked with furtive
curiosity at the house-front. Melrose, in the words of Lydia to young
Faversham, had "become a legend" to his neighbourhood, and many strange
things were believed about him. It was said that the house contained a
number of locked and shuttered rooms which were never entered; that
Melrose slept by day, and worked or prowled by night; that his only
servants were the two Dixons, no one else being able to endure his
company; that he and the house were protected by savage dogs, and that
his sole visitors were occasional strangers from the south, who arrived
with black bags, and often departed pursued with objurgations by Melrose,
and in terror of the dogs. It was said also that the Tower was full of
precious and marvellous things, including hordes of gold and silver; that
Melrose, who was detested in the countryside, lived in the constant dread
of burglary or murder; and finally--as a clue to the whole situation
which the popular mind insisted on supplying--that he had committed some
fearful crime, during his years in foreign parts, for which he could not
be brought to justice; but remorse and dread of discovery had affected
his brain, and