We would remark here that the wheeler’s workshop is one of the most striking objects in the village. Its great hatch doors are always thrown wide open, revealing a dark interior in vivid contrast with the sunshine overhead. Its old thatched roof is illuminated by the golden light, as are also the spreading branches of a huge wistaria that cover its main wall as well as the whole front of the adjoining dwelling-house. The present wheelwright is the successor of the very man whom Miss Mitford has just described. It is pleasant to have a chat with him about the village, as he has known every corner of it ... also its inhabitants for many a year. He showed us the curate’s little parlour, into which the front door opens, admitting a pretty view of the “cool clear pond” on the further side of the lane with its overhanging trees. Little Three Mile Cross does not boast a church of its own, but it is in the parish of Shinfield, and it was to Shinfield Church, distant about two miles and a half, that the curate repaired, accompanied by the “wheeler” carrying his gown. On quitting the village Miss Mitford exclaims: “How pleasantly the road winds up the hill between its broad green borders and hedgerows, so thickly timbered!... We are now on the eminence close to the Hill-house and its beautiful garden.” And looking back, she describes “the view; the road winding down the hill with a slight bend ... a waggon slowly ascending, and a horseman passing it at full trot, [while] further down are seen the limes and the rope-walk, then the village, peeping through the trees, whose clustering tops hide all but the chimneys and various roofs of the houses ... [and in the distance] the elegant town of B——, with its fine old church towers and spires, the whole view shut in by a range of chalky hills; and over every part of the picture trees so profusely scattered that it appears like a woodland scene, with glades and villages intermixed.” [Illustration] CHAPTER XXI THE NEW HOME Miss Mitford’s cottage in Three Mile Cross is practically the same as it was in her day, the chief alterations being that the windows to the front of the house, which were formerly leaded casement windows, have been enlarged and are now sashed. Also that the window of a parlour looking unto the back garden has been enlarged. In former times, too, the red bricks of which the house is built were exposed, but they are now covered with plaster.