22 The Tetcott Hunt CUeek. 



dragoon's *' Haw, haw ! pwefers tickling twout ! " 

 And these are the people whose admiration I 

 was to have gained. Here are some of those fair 

 creatures in whose eyes I hoped to shine as a hero. 

 And these fiends, rather than men, are they with 

 whom I was ready to contend in manly rivalr}^ and 

 to admit to my heart as brother sportsmen. 



Fortunately — *' for it is ill jesting with a hungry 

 man " — our roads branch off at once. Then it is 

 that I recognize among the party my lovely Riviera 

 acquaintance, who had long reigned supreme in my 

 heart. Little did I dream of seeing her here. On 

 the three occasions of my confronting the "field" 

 to-day, I was too abashed to distinguish anyone. 

 Not for worlds would I have appeared before my 

 love in the ridiculous positions in which I was then 

 placed. And, that she should have seen me regaling 

 myself with such food as this ! Begone, thou worse 

 than Dead Sea fruit ! But my misfortunes do not 

 appear to have altered her kind feeling towards me, 

 for she pulls up to greet me, and as she departs, 

 casts back a look of love and sympathy, which is as 

 balm to my troubled spirit, reconciles me to all 

 mankind, and blots out the remembrance of the 

 disappointments and vexations of the day. Foolish 

 anger vanishes at that glance. My fast, too, has 

 humbled me, and as I pursue my way I begin to see 

 things in a new light. May it not be that I myself 



