ld. Nor did we forget the Red Horse Inn at luncheon
time, finding it much less crowded than on our previous visit, for we
were still well in advance of the tourist season. After luncheon we were
lured into a shop across the street by the broad assurance made on an
exceedingly conspicuous sign that it is the "largest souvenir store on
earth." Here we hoped to secure a few mementos of our visit to Stratford
by motor car. We fell into a conversation with the proprietor, a genial,
white-haired old gentleman, who, we learned, had been Mayor of the town
for many years--and is it not a rare distinction to be Mayor of
Shakespeare's Stratford? The old gentleman bore his honors lightly
indeed, for he said he had insistently declined the office but the
people wouldn't take no for an answer.

It is only a few miles to Warwick over winding roads as beautiful as any
in England. One of these leads past Charlecote, famous for Shakespeare's
deer-stealing episode, but no longer open to the public. We passed
through Warwick--which reminded us of Ludlow except for the former's
magnificent situation--without pausing, a thing which no one would do
who had not visited that quaint old town some time before. In
Leamington, three miles farther on, we found a modern city of forty
thousand inhabitants, noted as a resort and full of pretentious hotels.
After we were located at the Manor House there was still time for a
drive to Kenilworth Castle, five miles away, to which a second visit was
even more delightful than our previous one. For the next day we had
planned a circular tour of Warwickshire, but a driving, all-day rain
and, still more, the indisposition of one of our party, confined us to
our hotel. Our disappointment was considerable, for within easy reach
of Leamington there were many places that we had planned to visit. Ashow
Church, Stoneleigh Abbey, George Eliot's birthplace and home near
Nuneaton, the cottage of Mary Arden, mother of Shakespeare, Rugby, with
its famous school, and Maxstoke Castle--an extensive and picturesque
ruin--are all within a few miles of Leamington.

From Leamington to London was nearly an all-day's run, although the
distance is only one hundred miles. A repair to the car delayed us and
we went several miles astray on the road. It would have been easier to
have returned over the Holyhead Road, but our desire to see more of the
country led us to take a route nearly parallel to this, averaging about
fifteen miles