40 THE LIFE OF A FOXHOUND. 



cropped hair was grizzled and frosted by 

 time, and a few wrinkles — albeit the joint 

 effects of laughter and age — -were stamped on 

 his ruddy cheeks, few could boast of a larger 

 circle of admirers. Will could never pass 

 through a village, in pink and boots, but 

 old women and young — but more especially 

 the young— and mothers and maids flocked 

 to their cottage doors and windows to 

 exchange nods and friendly greetings with 

 him. Ladies, too, of the first degree 

 acknowledged his polite lift of the cap with 

 friendly smiles, and, at convenient seasons, 

 inquired after the health of Mrs. Sykes, and 

 took quite an interest in sundry other of his 

 domesticities and household economy. And 

 was the huntsman's better half — the plump, 

 the prim, the comely Mrs. Sykes-— jealous of 

 these attentions? By no means. That 

 excellent and discriminating person con- 

 sidered that the favour in which Will was 

 held by the gentle and simple might be 

 ascribed to her tactics and general measures 

 of expediency ; and popularity, she had cogent 

 reasons for supposing, had greatly to do with 

 the liberal capping so invariably bestowed 

 upon the huntsman, whenever his right and 



