MISS BADSWORTH, M.F.H. 221 



*' Ah ! I shall be that one of these first days ! " Majendie 

 called after him. 



" A poor day when you are. Good morning," Jack called 

 back. 



" Was there ever such an unsnubable man before ? " Jack 

 muttered as he trotted towards the stables ; though what 

 Majendie had said should have fitted in with the thoughts 

 which had filled his mind before the Captain arrived : but it 

 didn't. " Damn him," he said heartily, and it may be ob- 

 served with truth that he had hardly recovered his usual 

 good temper by the time he joined Mr. Collingbourne-Ducis' 

 party bent on partridge driving. 



Neither Mr. Silas Tucker nor his son could hit a driven 

 partridge any more than they could fly with the coveys them- 

 selves, but an invitation to shoot Mr. Tucker's coverts was a 

 thing to be desired, consequently not only were they asked 

 on this occasion, but Mrs. Tucker and her daughters were 

 invited to join the Duchess and Lady Susan at the luncheon 

 rendezvous in the afternoon. Walking up partridges, even 

 in early September, had long since been voted slow work, 

 and dogs were things of the past. In proportion to the 

 reduction in the necessary exercise the sumptuousness of the 

 midday meal had increased. There was quite a spread at 

 Kington Farm, over which the Duchess presided. She was 

 a little woman, who had acquired an aristocratic bearing (as 

 she thought) by simply holding her head high and living up 

 to the position to which the late Duke had raised her ; in 

 fact she was a contrast to some of those who, being born to 

 the purple, live down to the front row of the chorus. The 

 reader can decide which he or she (if ever they get so far as 

 this) likes best. The Duchess was a stickler for the prece- 

 dence of her position, which was well, for it reminded others 

 that she had a right to it. 



Jack Morgan lay low with regard to any mention of the 

 hounds. There was a certain young lady whose doings he 

 wouldn't have had canvassed for the world. He talked guns 

 and evinced an intense concern for a miniature rifle club in 



