But my father was an oddity.

He had been early disappointed in Parliament, where it was his ambition to succeed.

Though a clever man, he failed there, where very inferior men did extremely well.
Then he went abroad, and became a connoisseur and a collector; took a part, on his return, in literary and scientific institutions, and also in the foundation and direction of some charities.

But he tired of this mimic government, and gave himself up to a country life, not that of a sportsman, but rather of a student, staying sometimes at one of his places and sometimes at another, and living a secluded life.
Rather late in life he married, and his beautiful young wife died, leaving me, their only child, to his care.

This bereavement, I have been told, changed him--made him more odd and taciturn than ever, and his temper also, except to me, more severe.