A DAY OF ENJOYMENT. 



evidently been lying with it under my head, or in such a position 

 as to stop the free circulation of the blood. Life gradually returned, 

 and it was the same as before. Not so was I ; my spirits had re- 

 ceived a shock, and I could not rally them. I was unrefreshed by 

 sleep, and dressed slowly, like a culprit for execution, rather than 

 one in the hey-day of youth, who had a bright morning and a bril- 

 liant prospect of a day's sport before him. I trod heavily down the 

 stairs ; and, as I learnt afterwards, my aunt remarked my leaden 

 step. But for Ned's interference (who wondered at my apathy), I 

 should have taken my uncle's old flint gun, in lieu of my own per- 

 cussion double barrel, which had caused me so much anxiety the 

 evening before. 



We were hospitably received by our friend A , and after dis- 



jcussing a hasty breakfast, at which Ned was a better performer than 

 I, we started for the woods, which were two miles distant. On turn- 

 ing the sharp angle of a lane, my attention was roused by the figure 

 of an old woman, certainly nothing like the personage in my dream, 

 but my blood curdled as her eye met mine. Dropping a curtsey with 

 a supplicating look, she presented her lean withered hand, but said 

 nothing. I thrust my own hastily into my pocket, and desired Ned 

 to stop ; he said we were behind time enough already, and he 

 wouldn't stop for all the beggars in Christendom ; I implored him, 

 he laughed and drove on; I seized the reins and pulling the 

 horse almost on his haunches, leaped out, and ran back to the spot. 

 She was gone ! I called, but received no answer. I peeped over each 

 hedge, she was not to be seen ; I pondered a moment, was vexed 

 with myself, and laughed at my own superstition. I returned slowly 

 to the gig with a puzzled look, which Ned (no dealer in phy- 

 siognomy at any time) did not attempt to expound. He growled 

 something about " more old women than one," and shortly after we 

 arrived at Hockitt's. 



Our party consisted of eight. It was settled that, to beat the 

 covers thoroughly, six should go inside with the dogs and beaters, 

 while two remained out. I w r as an outsider for the day, and conse- 

 quently got very little shooting. Twelve o'clock arrived, and I had 

 not killed a bird. I was leaning on a gate at the corner of a small 

 cover, when I heard bang ! bang ! bang ! inside, and then the well- 

 known cry of' Mark ! ' which proved that the bird, a hen, was still on 

 the wing. She flew at a considerable height over my head, and when 

 she had cleared the trees, I fired ; she fell it was the longest shot I 

 ever saw. My dream still clung to me, and I walked up doubtingly 

 towards her : but she was not a white pheasant, nor a pied pheasant, 

 nor different in the least from a dozen other pheasants I had seen 

 killed in the course of the day. I obtained no other shot. 



While on our return to friend A 's, we had not proceeded far 



when Ned suddenly pulled up, and whispered me, there was a phea- 

 sant just through the gap, not three yards from us. Without making 

 him any answer, I cautiously loaded one barrel, and got through the 

 hedge, but as I sprang into the field the bird rose a hundred yards 

 before me. Of course it was useless to fire: I was back again in an in- 

 stant; but in the short interval two of our friends had overtaken us, 



