28 WOLF-HUNTING. 



" I expected," said Lord Palmerston, " at least to see a twitch 

 of mirth on Grant's countenance ; but he was too well bred for 

 that; he quietly remarked that the hound and fox would do 

 admirably, but that the gun would be unsuitable for the 

 picture."* 



When the Count de Kergoorlas' drag drove to the door of the 

 Hotel La Tour d'Auvergne the clock struck seven, and at that 

 early hour in a November morning every one was astir in the 

 house, and even in the streets of Carhaix. Whatever may be 

 thought of French morals in general, those of rising early in the 

 morning are, unquestionably, habitual to them; and that, too, not 

 among the ouvriers only, and those on whom the labour of life 

 falls heaviest, but among the higher classes of the community. 

 It was barely dawn ; grey, cold, and comfortless ; and yet there 

 sat Kergoorlas on his box, looking as cheerful and as happy as if 

 he were going to drive a party of pretty girls to a summer fete in 

 the forest of St. Germain. 



" Mount, mount," said he, " the horses are longing for the 

 road ; and the braconniers of Carhaix will catch the first flight of 

 woodcocks if we delay our departure much longer." 



I was happy to feel that, on this occasion, I was not the 

 delinquent; St. Prix had been gone an hour to his kennel, in 

 order to examine the hounds after their work of yesterday, and 

 had not yet returned. As I approached the drag, I ran my eye 

 hastily over the team that stood, to all appearance, in no hurry 

 for a start; though, to judge by the way in which four Breton 

 peasants held each horse by the head, there was evidently some 

 misgiving in Kergoorlas' mind as to the steadiness of the whole 

 lot. A few minutes later St. Prix joined us, and, on mounting 



* The above story is substantially correct ; but, since its first publication, the author has 

 been kindly informed by Lord Aberdare, to whom Lord Palmerston related it, that the 

 French Anglomane was M. Charles de Mornay, and Lord Alvanley the man whom he 

 consulted as to the painter ; moreover, that the circumstance occurred soon after the 

 restoration of 1815, when Sir Francis Grant had not long escaped from his petticoats. 



