142 LEAVES FROM A GAME BOOK. 



Castle. On getting back with nearly a hundred bunnies, 

 I quickly changed and joined the tea party, when I learned 

 that, owing to the dense fog, Lord Brooke, to make all safe 

 for the Duchess, had ridden the whole way in front of her 

 carriage with a white handkerchief pinned to his back, as 

 a guide to the coachman. I also had the luck on this 

 occasion to make the acquaintance of the late Maria, 

 Marchioness of Ailesbury, for to my lot it fell to escort 

 her over Charlecote House, and much amused I was at 

 many of her quaint remarks, made in her well-known deep 

 contralto voice. In the evening we had another dance at 

 Warwick Castle — one of the prettiest sights I ever saw. 

 On the next morning most of us appeared at a nine 

 o'clock breakfast, and a good day's sport was followed 

 by the Stratford-on-Avon Ball. But these three con- 

 secutive dances so took it out of two of our guns that 

 we were quite short-handed for the next day's partridge 

 driving, and of course the birds took that opportunity 

 of coming well to the hedges we lined. However, we 

 got 40 brace, and should have had fully 60 if our two 

 beaten friends had put in an appearance. 



