Paying Guests — Edward Frederic Benson

Mrs Oxneys grievance was as well founded as most little vexations of the kind for certainly Wentworth was a very different class of house from Balmoral and Blenheim and Belvoir which though it might possibly be libellous to call them gimcrack could not be described as other than semi detached There could not be any divergence of opinion over that point or over the singleness of their bathrooms and the cold supper on Sunday Wentworth on the other hand was so entirely and magnificently detached that nobody would dream of calling it detached at all you might as well call a ship at sea detached The nearest house to it was at least a hundred yards away and on all sides but one more like a quarter of a mile and the whole of that territory was lsquo grounds It had gardens kitchen and flower it had tennis courts hard and soft a croquet lawn hard or soft according to the state of the weather and a large field in which Colonel Chase had induced Mrs Oxney to make five widely sundered putting greens one in each corner and one in the middle like the five of diamonds