Dismal and all as Brownstroke had been, how did I know I should not be happier there, after all, than at this strange new place, where I knew no one?
I wished the driver wouldn't go so fast.

Mrs Hudson saw my emotion, I think, for she once more opened fire, and, so to speak, gathered up the last crumbs of her good counsel.
"Oh, and Freddy dear," fumbling nervously in her pocket, and letting down her veil, "write and tell me what they give you to eat; remember, pork's bad for you, and leave your cuffs behind when you go out bird's- nesting and all that.

Mind, I'll expect to hear about everything, especially about whether you get warm baths pretty regularly, and if Mr Ladislaw is a good Christian man--and look here, dear," she continued hurriedly, producing a little parcel from the depths of her pocket, "you're not to open this till I'm away, and be sure to take care of it, and don't--" "That there chimbley," interrupted the driver at this stage, "is the fust 'ouse in Stonebridge." Five minutes later we were standing in the hall of Stonebridge House.
It didn't look much like a school, I remember thinking.

It was a large straggling building, rather like a farmhouse, with low ceilings and rickety stairs.

The outside was neat, but not very picturesque, and the front garden seemed to have about as much grass in it as the stairs had carpets.