"The meagre light revealed in the cuffs links of a peculiar device. The fingers clutching the branch were as familiar...."See in text(The Striding Place)
It has become clear that the body trapped in the current is that of Gifford, whose cufflinks and fingers are familiar to Weigall. There is something humorously aristocratic about the notion of one friend’s recognizing another by his cufflinks. At any rate, not only has Weigall found the man he was searching for, he has the opportunity to save him.
"seem what they ought to be—what they once were, before our ancestors' descendants demanded so much more money, in these so much more various days...."See in text(The Striding Place)
Weigall seems to be suggesting, with some yearning and nostalgia, that the natural scenery around West Riding has been spoiled by commercial efforts. One imagines Weigall is referring to deforestation or agricultural land use. There is a sense of the woods being demystified.
