Produced by Jens Sadowski, Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) SMALL TALK AT WREYLAND CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS C. F. CLAY, MANAGER LONDON: FETTER LANE, E.C. 4 [Illustration: colophon] NEW YORK: G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS BOMBAY, CALCUTTA, MADRAS: MACMILLAN AND CO., LTD. TORONTO: J. M. DENT AND SONS, LTD. TOKYO: THE MARUZEN-KABUSHIKI-KAISHA _All rights reserved_ [Illustration: LUSTLEIGH CLEAVE FROM THE OVAL LAWN] SMALL TALK AT WREYLAND BY CECIL TORR CAMBRIDGE AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS 1918 _First Edition, June, 1918_ _Reprinted, November, 1918_ CAMBRIDGE: PRINTED BY J. B. PEACE, M.A. AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS PREFACE I wrote this little book for private circulation; and it was actually in type, and ready for printing, before its publication was suggested. I feel some diffidence in inviting strangers to read what I intended only for my personal friends. But it all seems to hang together, and I have not omitted anything. In addressing this to strangers, I should explain that Wreyland is land by the Wrey, a little stream in Devonshire. The Wrey flows into the Bovey, and the Bovey into the Teign, and the Teign flows out into the sea at Teignmouth. The land is on the east side of the Wrey, just opposite the village of Lustleigh. It forms a manor, and gives its name to a hamlet of six houses, of which this is one. CECIL TORR. YONDER WREYLAND, LUSTLEIGH, DEVON. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS LUSTLEIGH CLEAVE FROM THE OVAL LAWN _Frontispiece_ IN THE INNER PARLOUR _To face p._ 16 THE WREY AT WREYLAND ” 32 THE PIXEY GARDEN ” 48 MAY DAY ” 64 JOHN TORR, the Author’s Grandfather, from the portrait by T. Bryant Brown ” 80 IN THE LOWER PARLOUR ” 96 THE HALL HOUSE ” 112 _All the illustrations, except the portrait, are from photographs taken by the Author._ SMALL TALK AT WREYLAND