Miss King
found all this very charming. She took a walk round the pleasure
grounds on the evening of her arrival, and felt that she had happened
upon the Irish demesne of her dreams--a region of spacious
dilapidation, exquisite natural beauty, romantic possibilities, and an
inexhaustible supply of local colour; a place very different indeed
from the trim Thames-side villas in which she generally spent her
summer holidays. Her maid unpacked a large box of requisites for the
country life supplied by the Stores, and came, at the bottom of it,
upon a very gay hammock made of green and scarlet strings. Miss King
was delighted with its appearance, and the promise it gave of luxurious
rest. After breakfast next morning she summoned the two gardeners to
her presence, and gave orders that the hammock should be securely hung
in a shady place. The men were unaccustomed to hammocks, but with the
help of some advice from the maid, they tied it to two trees in a
corner of what had once been a tennis court. They were so pleased with
it that they stood looking at it with great appreciation until Miss
King came out at about twelve o'clock.
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