country, and there were signs of two or three villages and hamlets in
sight besides the one near me, between which and me there was some
orchard-land, where the early apples were beginning to redden on the
trees. Also, just on the other side of the road and the ditch which
ran along it, was a small close of about a quarter of an acre, neatly
hedged with quick, which was nearly full of white poppies, and, as far
as I could see for the hedge, had also a good few rose-bushes of the
bright-red nearly single kind, which I had heard are the ones from
which rose-water used to be distilled. Otherwise the land was quite
unhedged, but all under tillage of various kinds, mostly in small
strips. From the other side of a copse not far off rose a tall spire
white and brand-new, but at once bold in outline and unaffectedly
graceful and also distinctly English in character. This, together
with the unhedged tillage and a certain unwonted trimness and
handiness about the enclosures of the garden and orchards, puzzled me
for a minute or two, as I did not understand, new as the spire was,
how it could have been designed by a modern architect; and I was of
course used to the hedged tillage and tumbledown bankrupt-looking
surroundings of our modern agriculture. So that the garden-like
neatness and trimness of everything surprised me. But after a minute
or two that surprise left me entirely; and if what I saw and heard
afterwards seems strange to you, remember that it did not seem strange
to me at the time, except where now and again I shall tell you of it.
Also, once for all, if I were to give you the very words of those who
spoke to me you would scarcely understand them, although their
language was English too, and at the time I could understand them at
once.

Well, as I stretched myself and turned my face toward the village, I
heard horse-hoofs on the road, and presently a man and horse showed on