Hunting in the Golden Days. 37 



was not an unusual occurrence to come across a sports- 

 man who was capable of absorbing large quantities ot 

 port after dinner ; they were technically called good 

 doers. Not for a moment would I class our respectable 

 hero as even a two or three bottle man, but at the same 

 time he had dined, and we all know that gentlemen of 

 naturally excitable temperament are perhaps more 

 prone to be rash after dinner than before. Therefore, 

 in the impulse of the moment, he throws his arms 

 around Miss Janet and salutes her with a thwacking 

 kiss, almost like the report of a pistol, which is greeted 

 by a round of hearty applause by the guests. 



Miss Janet is at first inclined to resent the liberty 

 taken by Mr. Goodbery, but when she finds she is 

 laughed down by the assembled guests she takes the 

 matter in good part, and says she will have to retaliate 

 by catching Mr. Goodbery asleep and winning a pair ot 

 gloves from him. After this Miss Janet subsides into 

 an easy chair, and makes vigorous use of her smelling- 

 salts and fan, for it is evident that the kiss has fired her 

 soul. Her hopes are doubly strengthened, she believes 

 that Mr. Goodbery is at last relenting and that the dawn 

 of love is at hand. No doubt she soliloquizes that he 

 begins to feel the solitudes of bachelor life at his age. 

 Up to the present time he has been too bashful to 

 openly plead his cause. What more natural for a fox- 

 hunting gentleman than to break the ice in this rough 

 and ready manner. The more she thinks over it the 

 more she is convinced that Mr. Goodbery only requires 

 encouragement. Had he known the effect of that harm- 

 less kiss, poor Goodbery would no doubt have given the 

 best hunter in his stable to have recalled it. 



