ABSTRACT
Down House stood above the village to the south, a quarter of a mile away. Bare and bleak it seemed that first autumn amid its untended fruit and fir, chestnut and mulberry trees, whose shed leaves the chill wind whirled about its shabby whitewashed walls. Comfort, though, soon prevailed inside. The down stairs rooms, if a little low, were large-study, drawing-room, dining-room, all won admiration. Upstairs was abundance of bedrooms, more than enough for all their visitors. Little could be done that winter, but all the following spring and summer workmen were busy on improvements both inside and out. At the south-west corner, facing the wide garden, a large bay was added on all three floors, the walls were freshly stuccoed, the roof examined for loose and broken slates, the lane lowered and a boundary wall built as further protection, banks made and planted for shrubberies, the garden set in order, and gravel put down upon the paths.
