For more than ten years an interminable lawsuit coiled itself closer and closer round the place, sequestering it from human habitation, and even from human approach.

The mansion was closed.
The garden became a wilderness of weeds.

The summer-house was choked up by creeping plants; and the appearance of the creepers was followed by the appearance of the birds of night.
For years the Owls lived undisturbed on the property which they had acquired by the oldest of all existing rights--the right of taking.
Throughout the day they sat peaceful and solemn, with closed eyes, in the cool darkness shed round them by the ivy.

With the twilight they roused themselves softly to the business of life.

In sage and silent companionship of two, they went flying, noiseless, along the quiet lanes in search of a meal.