Note 249 — Chapter XIII · DEATH OF MRS. BORROW

It would have been about the same period that, Borrow being at Dr. Gordon Hake’s house at Coombe End, an encampment of gypsies was formed near by on Wimbledon Common. According to Mr. Mackay, Borrow got Hake to give the gypsies permission to take water from his well. “They came and helped themselves to the water, and to everything else to which they became attracted. Hake represented the circumstances to Borrow. Borrow eloquently resented the aspersions cast on his friends, and left Coombe End in high dudgeon—to return, however, at a subsequent date.”