DAYS STOLEN FOR SPORT 11 



his horse's legs could bring him to tell me of the 

 joke." 



" But, dad, you really like Nell, don't you ? " 



" I esteem her highly, but that's not the point 

 just now." 



" ' Esteem,' that's not much. Do you mean to 

 say you don't love her ? " 



" Well, lad, I do, and so does everybody, but be 

 patient, for, say, another year." 



" That's just it ; everybody loves her, and I 

 cannot wait, so I am off. Wish me luck, dad." 



" You will need it, my boy, when you meet the 

 mother. If I were you I should take the flanking 

 positions first and leave that citadel until last. I 

 can hear her guns going off at your first approach. 

 Don't reply too soon, keep your powder for the 

 good dame until she has spent all hers. That is to 

 say if you get as far as the mother." 



I met Nell's father in the fields. His smile of 

 welcome as he held out his hand gave him no 

 chance of after resistance, and, though his eyes 

 opened to their fullest, he was kind, patted my 

 shoulder and referred me to her mother. 



Nell's determination not to marry until she was 

 twenty-one was very fixed, so when I found her 

 I was most careful with the fringe of the subject 

 I had at heart, which was to marry before the 

 month was out. In spite of this she was so much 

 astonished that she could not laugh as had been 

 predicted, and, before she had quite recovered, 

 I commenced a tale of the certainty of my success 

 that was a masterpiece of argument and left no 

 room for doubt. I doubted no word of it myself, 

 so we were both convinced. 



