Indeed? No, I have not.
And I am not ashamed to confess that they simply astounded me. In them I saw the most marvellous lawns—all of an emerald green, and mown with surprising neatness, with little paths intersecting them, lined with the finest of red sand. And the flowers, too! And the palm-trees!
Palm-trees?
Yes, I said palm-trees. Every shrub is pruned into a shape of some kind, such as a pyramid or a column of green foliage. Then there is a fountain with huge globes of glass, and, in the centre of the main lawn, a number of plaster gnomes and sirens.
How splendid!
How brilliant!
How luxurious!
[And so on, as before.]
The Man also did me the honour to show me his coach-houses and stables, until I found myself wholly unable to repress the admiration evoked in me by the spectacle of the horses and carriages which they contained. His motor-car, too, made a great impression upon me.
And, to think of it, he has no fewer than seventeen attendants for his person alone, in addition to the general staff of cooks, kitchen-maids, housemaids, gardeners, and so forth!