His Grace — page 40: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

34. HIS GRACE. This being so, and the circumstances admitting of no immediate action on my part, I was glad to turn away from the connection of any such thought with my sister ; for the first time in my life I was glad to leave her and to betake myself to Hurstbourne Castle, where, as it turned out, there was plenty of work waiting for me with which to occupy my mind. Hurstbourne Castle ought, perhaps, rather to be known as Hurstbourne Palace, for it certainly is not a ~ castle in the strict sense of the word, having been built in the sixteenth century upon the site of the ancient feudal structure which was demolished to make way for it. The late Duke(so I have been told by a lady who knew him) once remarked that it was a fine place to look at, and suitable for purposes of entertainments on a large scale, but that he should be sorry'to be condemned to live there. Asa matter of fact he did not live there, preferring the adjacent estate of Laven- ham, which he had purchased, and where there was a large modern house surrounded by gardens, upon the cultivation of which he had expended a small fortune. Hurstbourne he had been accustomed to make use of two orthree times in the course of the year for the pur- pose just mentioned, and possibly his dislike for the place may have been connected with his well-known dislike for entertaining upon a large scale. His enor- mous wealth enabled him to maintain an enormous establishment in a residence which he so rarely visited ; and thus it did not present a deserted or uncared-for appearance, although the general effect of it was a trifle gloomy and depressing during the winter months. It was on a fine, hot afternoon in one of the finest and hottest summers of recent years that I first made Eomicboo <S (E(0) m