A Shadowed Love by Fred M. White

There are some fine houses in the Thames Valley between Oxford and Windsor, but none of greater beauty than Stanmere. It is not large, but it is pure Tudor, with never so much as a stone or window restored; its grey gables are softened and beautified by the hand of time; the velvet lawns have been rolled and shaven and shaven and rolled for three centuries. But the beauty of the place lies in its grounds.

There are green terraces slipping to a lake which is fed by a strong stream. The lake is dotted with islands and surrounded by woods at the far end, which renders it dark and gloomy. There is a summer-house with steps leading down to the water, and here Lady Stanmere spends a deal of her time in the warm weather.