A Life-long Friend : Lord Minto 



him in these early days of his budding manhood, father to the 

 man who in his maturer years took up so unostentatiously and 

 carried through so honourably the great work of the British 

 Empire with which he was entrusted. 



During the four years he stayed with us in Limber, I 

 cannot recall one mean or inconsiderate action on his part, and 

 in such a length of time one gets to know a fellow-being very 

 thoroughly ; in fact, a pleasanter and I am glad to think a 

 happier quartette than Lord Melgund, Maunsell, my eldest 

 brother and myself never existed. 



Naturally my brother Maunsell and he did a large amount 

 of bear-fighting, and there were occasions when these fights 

 became historic — as when rolling over and over together on 

 the floor in the Limber dining-room, having disagreed about 

 some horsey question or other, they broke five panes of glass 

 in our big bookcase — that bookcase is in our family, an 

 honoured possession yet. Another time they scrapped so 

 heartily that both coats were very nearly torn off their 

 backs. 



But what mattered a good dress-coat in those halcyon days 

 — the "Cat," who was a tease of the first water, certainly con- 

 stantly sharpened his claws upon his friend, although he would 

 metaphorically have hit out hard if any one else had attempted 

 the same kind of worrying, as indeed once happened. 



During a pause at dinner, when several others, whom we 

 might call outsiders, were dining with us at Limber, Cecil 

 Legard said in his very clear voice, so soon to be heard in the 

 pulpit, " How well you went, Roily, last Wednesday with the 

 hounds ! in at the kill, and altogether a fine performance ! " I 

 can see Lord Melgund's face now, as he looked up. Natur- 

 ally we were listening with all our ears round the table, for 

 although we never talked of our own doings in the hunting 



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