CHAPTER I.AS THE SPIRIT MOVED.
The village lay in a valley which had been the bed of a great river in the far-off days when Ireland, Wales and Brittany were joined together and the Thames flowed into the Seine.

The place had never known turmoil or stir.

For generations it had lived serenely.
Three buildings in the village stood out insistently, more by the authority of their appearance and position than by their size.

One was a square, red-brick mansion in the centre of the village, surrounded by a high, redbrick wall enclosing a garden.

Another was a big, low, graceful building with wings.