CAPTAIN SHABBYHOUNDE 271 



horse without consulting him, he was highly indignant. 

 Strutt had had cause for dissatisfaction before, and it 

 was only not seeing his way clearly to a better place, 

 that prevented him turning his master off. When he 

 learned that his master had dealt with Shabbyhounde, 

 he looked upon himself as regularly robbed. It may 

 seem strange that Mr. Strutt, who had so lately arrived, 

 should be " up " to the Shabbyhounde dodge ; but 

 Strutt was a high privilege man, one who stood upon 

 the rights of his order, and he considered it a down- 

 right insult for any man, be he who he might, to 

 attempt to "do "his master without consulting him. 

 He took an enlarged comprehensive view of the ques- 

 tion — not the mere " A and B " deal case, as between 

 Shabbyhounde and his master, but he looked at the 

 general principle of the thing, and he saw if such 

 work was allowed it would be destructive of settled 

 principles, and most prejudicial to the interests of his 

 profession. Moreover, Shabbyhounde's fame was not 

 altogether unknown to him, though it did not enter 

 into Strutt's imagination that a man could be so de- 

 praved as to think of defrauding him of his regulars ; 

 the amount of which, however, he could not but feel 

 greatly depended upon the imparlafice before the deal. 

 It is a delicate case, and one that we feel assured 

 will come home to the feelings of all stabularian 

 professors. It makes all the difference in the world, 

 whether the imparlance is before or after the deal. 



Strutt looked as though nature had meant him for 

 the name, for he was a most bumptious, consequen- 

 tial, rosy-gilled bantam cock -looking Httle fellow, 

 uniting in his apparel the extravagancies of valet and 

 groom. He had a groom's hat and a valet's hair, a 

 groom's coat and a valet's waistcoat, a swell satin 

 cravat, and groomish made trowsers, buttoning up 

 the leg w^ith French cut gaiters and thin shoes. At 

 the time of which we are writing, he might be forty 

 or forty-five years of age, greyish about the whisker, 



