XIV

Wargrave⁠—Waxworks⁠—Sonning⁠—Our stew⁠—Montmorency is sarcastic⁠—Fight between Montmorency and the teakettle⁠—George’s banjo studies⁠—Meet with discouragement⁠—Difficulties in the way of the musical amateur⁠—Learning to play the bagpipes⁠—Harris feels sad after supper⁠—George and I go for a walk⁠—Return hungry and wet⁠—There is a strangeness about Harris⁠—Harris and the swans, a remarkable story⁠—Harris has a troubled night.

We caught a breeze, after lunch, which took us gently up past Wargrave and Shiplake. Mellowed in the drowsy sunlight of a summer’s afternoon, Wargrave, nestling where the river bends, makes a sweet old picture as you pass it, and one that lingers long upon the retina of memory.

The George and Dragon at Wargrave boasts a sign, painted on the one side by Leslie, R. A. , and on the other by Hodgson of that ilk. Leslie has depicted the fight; Hodgson has imagined the scene, “After the Fight”⁠—George, the work done, enjoying his pint of beer.