138 The Hunting Field With Horse and Homid 



tenance as shiny as good soap and water can make it, and as 

 ruddy as good blood can colour it, takes us in hand like the 

 mother she is to all her guests. We drop into the place that 

 seems to fit us hke a pair of old slippers, and are contented 

 and comfortable from the first. 



We then dispatch a note to the kennels to inquire if it will 

 be convenient for us to visit them on the following afternoon, 

 the time of day most huntsmen prefer callers. 



While lunch is being prepared, we will visit the stable yard 

 where there is sure to be a couple of hound puppies at walk, 

 and some hunters in sight — or take a stroll along the highway 

 where pheasants and rabbits are always in view. 



At lunch our hostess entertains us with information con- 

 cerning the visit we are to pay to the castle, which is open to 

 visitors from 2 to 4 p. m. This she seasons with a bit of gossip 

 concerning the present owner, the 7th Duke of Rutland, and 

 the other great dukes and duchesses, and lesser members of 

 this historic family. John Manners, the second son of the first 

 Earl of Rutland, will be remembered for all time as the hero 

 of a most romantic love affair with Dorothy Vernon, daughter 

 of the fierce "King of the Peak." How John Manners lay 

 for days and nights in the wood about Haddon Hall for a 

 glimpse of his sweetheart and how on a dark rainy night, 

 he rode to the hall and while the dancers footed it merrily in 

 the "festal light," Dorothy Vernon shpped away from the ball 

 room, was lifted into the saddle and galloped away through the 

 forest with her determined lover. How the infuriated father, 

 with fifty mounted riders, rode madly after in fruitless chase 

 and how some twelve months afterwards the happy Dorothy 

 returned to her father with liis grandchild in her arms, obtained 

 forgiveness and finally became heir to Haddon Hall, which to 

 this day remains in the possession of the present Duke of Rut- 

 land. Haddon Hall is no longer inhabited, the present Duke 

 of Rutland residing at Belvoir. 



