GENERAL AVSCHAROF AND FILLIS 183 



and Mrs. Fillis, both of whom were very civil to us. I greatly 

 enjoyed talking horse to him ; because he was full of original 

 information about school riding, which is a subject that is 

 more or less unknown to horsemen in England. 1 was also 

 glad to avail myself of his kind offer to let me come and see 

 him give his lessons. On these occasions, it was great fun 

 listening "to General Avscharof, who kept up a continued 

 fusilade of directions and reproofs to the members of the 

 class, entirely irrespective of Fillis, \vho, in his turn, paid just 

 as little attention to the General. One day when I was there, 

 the General, without consulting Fillis, ordered the jumping 

 bar to be brought in. When it arrived, Fillis said to me : 

 "He has got the bar in, but he'll have to wait till I let the 

 men jump it." And so the comedy went on, until at last the 

 General got up and walked out of the school in a not very 

 dignified huff. As soon as he had departed, Fillis formed up 

 the ride and proceeded with the jumping lesson. 



