"
However, Bobus would not countenance the irregular practitioner by
escorting his mother to River Hollow; and as he was in one of the
surly moods in which he was dangerous to any one who meddled with
him, especially Janet, his mother was glad not to have to keep the
peace between them.
Janet, though not in the most amiable mood, chose to go with her, and
they set forth by the shorter way, across Belforest park, skirting
the gardens where the statues stood up, looking shivery and forlorn,
as if they were not suited to English winters, and the huge house
looked down on them like a London terrace that had lost its way, with
a dreary uninhabited air about it. Even by this private way they had
two miles and a half of park to traverse, before they reached a heavy
miry lane, where the beds of mud, alternated with rugged masses of
stone, intended to choke them. It led up between high hedges to the
brow of one of the many hills of the county, whence they could look
down into the hollow, a perfect cup, scooped out as it were between
the hills that closed it in, except at the outlet of the river that
intersected it, making the meadow on either side emerald green, even
in the winter. Corn lands of rich red soil, pasture fields dotted
with cattle, and broad belts of copse wood between clothed the
slopes; and a picturesque wooden bridge, with a double handrail,
crossed the river.
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