40 HORSES 



in Master George, and, like all the better class of 

 grooms, is a very keen sportsman. You give him 

 every detail and incident of the morning's sport, 

 living it all over again in pouring out the story to 

 sympathetic ears. 



You may be pardoned for relating your prowess 

 in the field to the family circle, but I need hardly 

 tell you that a modest reticence with regard to these 

 matters is more becoming when discussing it with 

 friends. Not only must you never refer to your own 

 personal deeds, but you must not allow yourself to 

 imagine that your performance was in any way out 

 of the common or meritorious. The next time you 

 go hunting you will probably do something foolish, 

 and never see hounds after they leave the covert. 

 Conceit about anything is certain to lead sooner 

 or later to a downfall, but in riding to hounds it 

 is a sure pathway to a swift and humiliating 

 retribution. 



