I was charmed with his easy receptivity and went away content.

A few days later I received the description of the house which the
agent had prepared for his clients. Being still interested in nothing
but the truth I was electrified.

"This very desirable residence," it began. No great harm in that.

"In heart of most beautiful county in England," it continued. Nothing
very serious to quarrel with there; tastes must always differ; but it
puts the place in a new light.

"Surrounded by pleasure-grounds." Here I was pulled up very short. My
little lawn with its evergreens, my desolate cabbage-stalks, my tiny
paddock--these to be so dignified! And where do the agents get their
phrases? Is there a Thesaurus of the trade, profession, calling,
industry or mystery? "Garden" is a good enough word for any man who
lives in his house and is satisfied, but a man who wants a house can
be lured to look at it only if it has pleasure-grounds: is that the
position? Does an agent in his own home refer to the garden in
that way? If his wife is named Maud does he sing, "Come into the
pleasure-grounds"?

"Surrounded," too. I was so careful to say that the paddock and so
forth were on one side and the road on the other.

I read on: "Situated in the old-world village of Blank." And I had
been scrupulous in stating that we were a mile distant--situated in
point of fact in a real village of our own, with church, post-office,
ancient landau and all the usual appurtenances. And "old world"! What