" There was Jackman, the
nurse, a mixture of Mother and Aunt Emily; and there was Weeden, the
Head Gardener, an evasive and mysterious personality, who knew so much
about flowers and vegetables and weather that he was half animal, half
bird, and scarcely a human being at all--vaguely magnificent in a
sombre way. His power in his own department was unquestioned. He said
little, but it "meant an awful lot"--most of which, perhaps, was not
intended.
These four constituted the under layer of the household, concealed
from visitors, and living their own lives apart behind the scenes.
They were the Lesser Authorities.
There were others too, of course, neighbours, friends, and visitors,
who dwelt outside the big iron gates in the Open World, and who
entered their lives from various angles, some to linger, some merely
to show themselves and vanish into mist again. Occasionally they
reappeared at intervals, occasionally they didn't. Among the former
were Colonel William Stumper, C.B., a retired Indian soldier who lived
in the Manor House beyond the church and had written a book on
Scouting; a nameless Station-Master, whom they saw rarely when they
accompanied Daddy to the London train; a Policeman, who walked
endlessly up and down the muddy or dusty lanes, and came to the front
door with a dirty little book in his big hands at Christmas-time; and
a Tramp, who slept in barns and haystacks, and haunted the great
London Road ever since they had once handed him a piece of Mrs.
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