Hunting in the Golden Days. "jq 



Oldwig shudders as he passes on, and thinks of what 

 may be the outcome of all this. 



Poor fellow, he has passed a bad night, for unfortu- 

 nately, at the last moment, his wife has been informed 

 by some officious meddler of her husband's rash wager. 

 Little sleep has he had last night, for he has received a con- 

 tinual curtain lecture something after the following style : 



" To think of you, the father of a family, getting 

 on for 60, telling me that you feel old age fast creep- 

 ing over you, and you cannot ride to hounds as you 

 did, and that you think you will have to give it up, 

 and that, anyway, you won't hunt more than two 

 days a week, and when you do only ride at gaps ; and 

 what do you think all your friends will say, wagering your 

 money in a profligate way like this r You ought to be 

 ashamed of yourself, you ought, distressing a good, 

 amiable wife like you have. You ought to have married 

 a vixen, she would have given you no peace ; and I sup- 

 pose if you break your ribs or injure your spine you 

 will expect me to nurse you day and night, after I have 

 warned you as I have. If you had been called out to 

 battle by a press-gang or anything like that, and been 

 obliged to go, that would have been a different thing ; 

 but this is a thing you go and openly seek yourself, 

 simply to satisfy your own vanity. That's why you wear 

 that red coat. I know all about it. It's no good telling 

 me," and so on, till she was quite worn out and tired, and 

 poor Oldwig was allowed to fall into a fitful slumber. 



Oldwig throws his eyes across the country in the 

 direct line he will soon be traversing. How small the 

 fences look in the distance to an unpractised eye ; but 

 he knows what yawners some of them must be from the 

 remarks of the bumpkins assembled on the hill. He 

 pictures his horse landing on its head and rolling heavily 



