Why had he stayed
in London so long when all this tranquil, appealing loveliness of wood,
stream, hill and hollow lay close at hand? There are folk who deny the
charm of Surrey--by whom this delicious county, with its noble stretches
of wild, fragrant uplands, and wide, deep valleys, is dismissed as
suburban. But though they would deny it vehemently, the eyes of such
folk are holden.
As he was borne along through the soft, lambent air, everything he passed
appealed to his heart and imagination. Each of the small, yet dignified,
eighteenth-century houses, which add such distinction and grace to each
Surrey township--Epsom, Leatherhead, Guildford--gave him a comfortable
feeling of his country's well-being, of the essential stability of
England. Now and again, in some woodland glade where summer still
lingered, he would pass by happy groups engaged in black-berrying;
while on the road there waited the charabancs, the motor-cycles, the
pony-traps, which had brought them.
Once, when they came to such a spot, he, Radmore, called out to his
chauffeur to stop. They were close to the crest of Boxhill, and below
them lay spread out what is perhaps the finest, because the richest in
human and historic associations, view in Southern England.
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