And
immediately afterwards came one from Leonora saying, "Yes,
please do come. You could be so helpful." It was as if he had sent
the cable without consulting her and had afterwards told her.
Indeed, that was pretty much what had happened, except that he
had told the girl and the girl told the wife. I arrived, however, too
late to be of any good if I could have been of any good. And then I
had my first taste of English life. It was amazing. It was
overwhelming. I never shall forget the polished cob that Edward,
beside me, drove; the animal's action, its high-stepping, its skin
that was like satin. And the peace! And the red cheeks! And the
beautiful, beautiful old house.
Just near Branshaw Teleragh it was and we descended on it from
the high, clear, windswept waste of the New Forest. I tell you it
was amazing to arrive there from Waterbury. And it came into my
head--for Teddy Ashburnham, you remember, had cabled to me to
"come and have a talk" with him--that it was unbelievable that
anything essentially calamitous could happen to that place and
those people. I tell you it was the very spirit of peace. And
Leonora, beautiful and smiling, with her coils of yellow hair, stood
on the top doorstep, with a butler and footman and a maid or so
behind her.
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