He was full of the dreariness of the place. ‘Listen to this, Rooke, you had better sit down, otherwise you are likely to fall over from excitement. Listen: Dod says he expects this year’s crop of wheat and barley to yield full 400 bushels. Have you ever heard anything so scintillating?’ ‘But you will make something of it. Turn, you know, a sow’s ear…’ ‘Oh, no talk of sows, if you please! I have to admit, though, that the place had its charms in spite of its dullness. They have cleared a great deal of ground, and from the top of the hill I was struck by how grand and capacious the prospect seemed, after not seeing an opening in the woods of that extent for such a long time.’ He felt in his pocket for his pencil. ‘I must remember that, it was a striking and novel sensation.’ Rooke watched him write, thinking of his own threadbare notes in his own small book. How might he begin the task of telling Silk about what had been happening on the point?
