Country birds came and built there year after year.

You might hear the thrush begin about January.

And in the spring it was a wilderness of sweet hyacinths and daffodils, lilac and may.

The rooms were spacious and splendid within the big cream-coloured house; and the General used to say that in the early morning, when the smoke had cleared away, it was possible from the upper windows to see as far as the Surrey hills.

However, that was something which nobody but himself had tested.
In the house love and friendliness and good-will reigned supreme.