Lady Victoria Campbell

2 CHILDHOOD AND HOME
momentous meeting broke up, and the Duke records
his pleasure as he escaped into the sweet and calm
air of a glorious summer night. He offered Mr.
Gladstone a drive home in his open carriage. " It
was midsummer, and the air was full of the smell
of all the blossoms that made sweet the whole
air of suburban London at that season of the year."
In those anxious hours, he must have thought with
a sense of peace of the home into which he was just
about to enter with the little daughter to whom
Argyll Lodge was to mean so much throughout her
life.
In the Duke's autobiography he tells the tale of
its purchase: "Just at that time (1853) we heard
that a villa on Campden Hill, which had long been
well known in London as the residence of the
Dowager Duchess of Bedford, was for sale. It had
four acres of land about it, beautifully planted,
and two very old oaks in the grounds would
have done no discredit to any ancient chase in
England. It was next to Holland Park, and abso-
lutely removed from all noise of traffic. We went to
see it, and the first thing I saw out of the late Duke
of Bedford's room was a fine lawn covered with
starlings, hunting for grubs and insects in their very
peculiar fashion ; moreover, there were other birds
in abundance. To my amazement I saw nuthatches
moving over the trees as if they were in some deep
English woodland. Flycatchers and warblers were
also visible to my accustomed eye. There were
objections ; distance was to be considered. But