t on some magnificent oak beams. Byfleet Manor House used to be a
royal hunting lodge, and was given with the right of free warren by
Edward II to Piers Gaveston. Its last royal owner was James the First's
queen, Anne of Denmark, and it was probably she who built the massive
walls and the forecourt of the garden of the present home. But the manor
house itself is early Georgian; and though it has had some ugly
additions, it still stands square and strong behind its fine old
gateway. James is supposed to have planted the Scotch firs in the
garden, to remind Queen Anne of the home she left behind her in the
north.

Such a building would be sure to have some quaint traditions. It is
known locally as the King's House, and there is a legend that Henry VIII
was nursed there. He may have been, but not in the present building. It
has no regular ghosts, but Miss Frances Mitchell, writing on the history
of the Manor in the _Surrey Archaeological Collections_, tells us that
Anne of Denmark is said to have been seen moving through the lower
rooms; and there is a very dim tradition of a dwarf in purple velvet who
wanders in the forecourt. A third legend, in which the rustic historian
apparently confuses Anne of Denmark with the last Stuart Queen, relates
that Queen Anne came to Byfleet and from a neighbouring hill watched
Marlborough win the battle of Blenheim.

CHAPTER XXI

RICHMOND AND KEW

The Woking of the Surrey Thames.--Peasants in the field.--Ham
House.--The Cabal.--Petersham.--Richmond Hill.--_The Heart of
Midlothian._--Deer in the sunlight.--Queen Elizabeth dying.--Kew
Palace.--The secret of the Gardens.

Woking is the centre to which it is difficult not to return in exploring
the Wey and the Wey villages: Surbiton is the centre of the roads about
the Surrey Thames. Surbiton has tramways besides a railway, and Surbiton
station is perhaps the most convenient starting point either for Hampton
Court on the Middlesex bank, or for Kingston, or through Kingston to Ham
and Richmond and Kew. Kingston, in one direction, has its own chapter;
so have the Dittons and Walton in another; beyond Kingston lies a walk
(not often taken, perhaps), along the river bank to Ham and Petersham; a
walk that leads to Richmond Park and its deer dozing among the bracken
in the afternoon sun, and Kew Gardens waiting in the evening--the best
hour of all the day among those ordered flowers and trees.

I never saw Ham until o