172 The Great Presentation Day. 



the interest of whose owner, indeed, the artist was 

 indebted for the commission in the present case. 



Well, the picture being at last finished, much to the 

 noble sitter's relief, the only thing to be done now was to 

 present it in due form. This important ceremony it was 

 settled should take place at Fatfield Hall, the abode of Mr. 

 Yellowboy, the banker (William Waggleton's friend), not 

 that that gentleman was by any means a good specimen of 

 the representative sportsman of the period, but the fact of 

 his having a larger house than anyone in those parts, 

 made it come in very handy for the purpose, as one of the 

 committee sagaciously remarked. 



The capitalist was delighted beyond measure at the 

 great event taking place at his house, as it enabled 

 him once more to cut out all his neighbours, and come 

 out with the elaborate breakfast or dejeuner that he 

 so delighted in. Lord Daisyfield, on the contrary, who was, 

 as our readers are aware, a very shy, reserved sort of man, 

 looked forward to the day with anything but delight. 

 He would ever so much sooner have preferred the 

 picture to be sent to him, and then to have acknow- 

 ledged it with a polite note. However, that, of course, was 

 out of the question, and not to be thought of for a moment. 



The important day at length arrives, and the roads 

 leading to Fatfield Hall are all alive with sportsmen of 

 all sorts — horsemen in scarlet, horsemen in green, horse- 

 men in black, horsemen in blue are seen wending their 

 way to the meet. Vehicles, too, of every description there 

 are, from the stylish mail phaeton and the well-turned-out 

 drag to the seedy old brougham and the four-wheeled 

 chaise, or shay, as she prefers to call it, of Mrs. Bris- 

 ket, the butcher's wife. What a lovely spring morning 



