CO ATE FARM. 33 



of our visits to the farm, we used to think we 

 heard the clanking chains or ringing hoof of the 

 phantom horse careering after us, and we would 

 rush on in full flight from the fateful spot." 



His principal companion in boyhood was 

 his next brother, younger than himself by one 

 year only, but very different in manners, ap- 

 pearance, and in tastes. He describes both 

 himself and his brother in "After London." 

 Felix is himself ; Oliver is his brother. 



This is Felix : 



" Independent and determined to the last 

 degree, Felix ran any risk rather than sur- 

 render that which he had found, and which 

 he deemed his own. This unbending indepen- 

 dence and pride of spirit, together with scarce- 

 concealed contempt for others, had resulted in 

 almost isolating him from the youth of his 

 own age, and had caused him to be regarded 

 with dislike by the elders. He was rarely, if 

 ever, asked to join the chase, and still more 

 rarely invited to the festivities and amuse- 

 ments provided in adjacent houses, or to the 

 grander entertainments of the higher nobles. 



3 



