SCIENCE OF FOXHUNTING. 357 



By the time Colonel Hamilton returned, Tracy 

 had in a great degree recovered his consciousness 

 and Sam having assisted him into the carriage, gave 

 his horse in charge to the colonel's groom, and then 

 again rode off to join the cavalcade now in motion to 

 draw for a second fox. George Tracy being a great 

 favourite in the hunt, anxious inquiries were made 

 by his friends of Sam Coventry. 



" He is not, I fancy, so badly hurt as I first 

 thought. George could not have fallen to such ad- 

 vantage anywhere else ; and, taking the pros and 

 cons into account, I have a shrewd suspicion that it 

 will be the luckiest fall he ever got in his life. His 

 collar-bone will soon be all right, with a clever 

 doctor to attend to him, and a beautiful girl to while 

 away his pains and aches with her silvery tones. 

 Egad ! George is a good-looking fellow, a favourite 

 with women, and the colonel seems to have taken a 

 decided fancy to him. Under such auspicious cir- 

 cumstances it is not very difi&cult to guess the result 

 of his being laid up as an invalid at the Grange.^' 

 The latter part of his speech was addressed to John 

 Staveley in a low voice. 



"The colonel is a very particular man in some 

 respects,'^ remarked Staveley, " and the on dit is that 

 he has assigned his only child to Lord John." 



" Who is old enough to be her father," added 

 Sam. 



"No matter; he was always considered a marti- 

 net in the field, and is not likely to be trifled with 

 when his mind is made up upon any point." 



