In fact, Oakford was his
native place, though he was passing his old age in Dacrefield, and he
had a natural desire to see it again, and a natural belief that the
spot where he had been young and strong, and light-hearted, had
especial merits of its own.
Even though we had nothing better to propose, old Giles' love for home
would hardly have decided us, but he had something more to add. There
was a "gentleman's place" on the outskirts of Oakford, which
sometimes, in the absence of the family, was "shown" to the public:
old Giles had seen it as a boy, and the picture he drew of its glories
fairly carried us away, the Rector and tutor excepted. They shrugged
their shoulders with faces of comical despair as the old man, having
fairly taken the lead, babbled on about the "picters," the "stattys,"
and the "yaller satin cheers" in the grand drawing-room; whilst the
other teachers listened with open mouths, and an evident and growing
desire to see Oakford Grange. I did not half believe in old Giles'
wonders, and yet I wished to see the place myself, if only to learn
how much of all he described to us was true. I supposed that "the
family" must have been at home when I was at Oakford, or Mr.
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