He could not resist the temptation to ask apparently casual questions of keepers and farmers when he found himself with them.

He managed to give his inquiries as much the air of accident as possible, but he himself knew that they were made as a result of a certain fevered curiosity.

He found that he had fallen into the habit of continually making plans connected with the place.

He said to himself, "If it were mine I would do this, or that.

If I owned it, I would make this change or that one.