‘You have been this morning so very kind to my little girls and they are starved, now, of male society. My brother is much occupied and with no father … I wonder, if you should find yourself here in Cheltenham, might you consider visiting us again?’

William was most touched by her request. It would be his pleasure, he said.

5.

The injury to William’s left hand did not improve. He went to discuss his future with his father, whose own injury had led him to leave the army, as well as bequeathing him a permanent limp. It was decided that William would sell his commission. He was sorry to leave the Regiment, but his incapacity was such that he could no longer load and discharge his Deane Adams revolver, nor otherwise feel himself of use. Through the autumn it became his chief purpose to plan and supervise the planting of trees. A great elm in the park to the front of the house had come down in his absence and it seemed to him now that the right-hand flank of the lawn was too bare and wanted cedars. In the place of the single elm he now installed a short avenue of lime trees, which would make a pleasant alley under which to take shade while strolling on a warm afternoon. By the corner of the house he put in three cedars, pacing out the distance between them and marking the spots with bamboo canes, then standing by as one of the gardeners dug them in. It was confounding that these grew so slowly, but as time went on he could perhaps take out one or two, leaving the best specimen to reach its full maturity. The little snowdrop bulbs he had brought back from the war he planted under the windows of the dining room and his study. These immediate planting schemes completed, he turned his attention to an area on the outlying farm where the ground dipped; he commenced to plant a small wood there. He was satisfied that such a stand of trees would provide good cover for game, as well as breaking up the monotony of the fields. At the foot of the drive he installed a quantity of laurel. He made plans to extend the orchard and replace some of the gnarlier old trees.