72 SYSTEM OF KENNEL AND 



had rather have a kiss from you than /' We 



could not hear the remainder of the sentence, but 

 easily guessed it. 



" Confound tliat cur Fritz ! '" exclaimed his 

 friend. " I couldn't have believed him such a 

 coward ! Now, girls, we must be going, so make 

 your partner a curtsey, Fanny, or give him a kiss, 

 as 3'ou please.'' 



Our hounds were accustomed to ladies' society, 

 which, perhaps, was one of the chief causes of 

 their courtesy towards visitors ; and from our great 

 attention to cleanliness, a pin might be picked off 

 the floor as bright as it fell. 



Strange as it may appear, members of the hunt 

 manifest very little interest in the well-being of 

 the pack to which they ostensibly belong. If the 

 sport is good, it is a matter of perfect indifference 

 to them how it is effected ; in short, they w^ould not 

 care a rap whether a bagman were turned out of 

 a sack, or a wild fox from his kennel, provided 

 they got Avhat they go out for and nothing else — 

 a run, as something to talk of We considered 

 ourselves fortunate in having one at least who 

 understood the management and working of a 

 pack of foxhounds — one who had profited by the 

 instruction he had received and the lessons he had 

 been taught by that renowned sportsman, John 

 Warde, w^ith whom he had liunted for many years 

 previously to his joining our hunt : we allude to 

 tlie late John Starkey, of Spye Park, Wilts, as 

 enthusiastic a foxhunter as he proved himself to 



