Chapter 14

At the last moment, when all the preparations were complete, Miss
Starbrow determined to accompany Fan to her new home, and, after dropping
her there, to pay a long-promised visit before leaving England to an old
friend of her girlhood, who was now married and living at Salisbury.
Eyethorne took her some distance out of her way; and at the small country
station where they alighted, which was two and a half miles from the
village, she found from the time-table that her interview with the
Churtons would have to be a short one, as there was only one train which
would take her to Salisbury so as to arrive there at a reasonably early
hour in the evening. At the station they took a fly, and the drive to
Eyethorne brought before Fan's eyes a succession of charming scenes--
green hills, broad meadows yellow with buttercups, deep shady lanes, and
old farm-houses. The spring had been cold and backward; but since the
beginning of May there had been days of warm sunshine with occasional
gentle rains, and the trees, both shade and fruit, had all at once rushed
into leaf and perfect bloom. Such vivid and tender greens as the foliage
showed, such a wealth of blossom on every side, such sweet fragrance
filling the warm air, Fan had never imagined; and yet how her prophetic
heart had longed for the sweet country!

A sudden turn of the road brought them in full sight of the village,
sheltered on the east side by low green hills; and beyond the village, at
some distance, a broad belt of wood, the hills on one hand and green
meadowland on the other. Five minutes after leaving the village they drew
up at the gate of Wood End House, which was at some distance back from
the road almost hidden from sight by the hedge and trees, and was
approached by a short avenue of elms. Arrived at the house, they were
received by Mr. and Mrs. Churton, and ushered into a small drawing-room
on the ground floor; a room which, with its heavy-looking, old-fashioned
furniture, seemed gloomy to them on coming in from the bright sunshine.
Mrs. Churton was rather large, approaching stoutness in her figure, grey-
haired with colourless face, and a somewhat anxious expression; but she
seemed very gentle and motherly, and greeted Fan with a kindliness in her
voice and manner which served in a great measure to remove the girl's
nervousness on coming for the first time as an equal among gentlefolks.

Mr. Churton had not, in a long married life, grown like his spouse in any
way, nor she like him. He was small, with a narrow forehead, irregular
face and projecting under-lip, which made him ugly. His eyes were of that
common no-colour type, and might or might not have been pigmented, and
classifiable as brown or blue--Dr. Broca himself would not have been able