planned, despite my having completed my packing and loaded the Ford with all

necessary items well before eight o'clock. What with Mrs Clements and the girls

also gone for the week, I suppose I was very conscious of the fact that once I

departed, Darlington Hall would stand empty for probably the first time this

century - perhaps for the first time since the day it was built. It was an odd

feeling and perhaps accounts for why I delayed my departure so long, wandering

around the house many times over, checking one last time that all was in order.

 

It is hard to explain my feelings once I did finally set off. For the first

twenty minutes or so of motoring, I cannot say I was seized by any excitement or

anticipation at all. This was due, no doubt, to the fact that though I motored

further and further from the house, I continued to find myself in surroundings

with which I had at least a passing acquaintance. Now I had always supposed I

had travelled very little, restricted as I am by my responsibilities in the

house, but of course, over time, one does make various excursions for one

professional reason or another, and it would seem I have become much more

acquainted with those neighbouring districts than I had realized. For as I say,

as I motored on in the sunshine towards the Berkshire border, I continued to be

surprised by the familiarity of the country around me.

 

But then eventually the surroundings grew unrecognizable and I knew I had gone

beyond all previous boundaries. I have heard people describe the moment, when

setting sail in a ship, when one finally loses sight of the land. I imagine the

experience of unease mixed with exhilaration often described in connection with

this moment is very similar to what I felt in the Ford as the surroundings grew