It was surrounded by new shrubs and new lawns, by new walls and new out-houses, and savoured of trade;--so at least thought Roger Carbury, though he never said the words.

Caversham was a very large mansion, built in the early part of George III's reign, when men did care that things about them should be comfortable, but did not care that they should be picturesque.

There was nothing at all to recommend Caversham but its size.

Eardly Park, the seat of the Hepworths, had, as a park, some pretensions.

Carbury possessed nothing that could be called a park, the enclosures beyond the gardens being merely so many home paddocks.