THE HAUGHTYSHIRE HUNT. 59 



like, and I'll tell 'em to get the tea and muffins ready for 

 you. Ta-ta ! " And Mr. Dash wood heel'd the old crow he 

 was ridmg mto mcreased activity, until he shovelled along at 

 the best pace his stiffened limbs would admit of. 



After going less than a quarter of a mile, he overtook 

 and passed the Duke and Adela Comely, enjoying a most 

 delightful tete-a-tete as they rode home together. Miss 

 Comely was clothed in smiles (and, of course, all the 

 customary addenda of a fin-de-siede equestrienne), whilst 

 the Duke, freed from the thrall of Lord Gravity's watchful 

 guardianship, was, as Tom Tribe afterwards described it to 

 his ' missus,' ' carryin' on somethin' awful ' with her. The 

 Duke was doubly pleased because Sanders, with his second 

 horse, having missed him, the new little hunter had carried 

 him gallantly throughout the run, from start to finish ; and 

 secondly, that kind Fate had dropped him in the same field as 

 a pretty girl, with whom he could ride home and flirt to his 

 heart's content. And His Grace of Haughtyshire was a past 

 master in the art of flirtation. He was also handsome, well 

 preserved, eligible, and, what all girls of sense highly appre- 

 ciate, a bold, resolute horseman. The only alloy to the Duke's 

 present happiness was the thought that he would surely have 

 to face a mild but searching cross-examination on the part 

 of his son and heir at dinner that evening, as to whom he 

 had been talking and riding with during the day. 



Jack raised his hat and passed on, leaving this pair of turtle- 

 doves the road to themselves, again. A couple of miles 

 farther on, he fell in with his friend. Sir Tommy, who had 

 managed to lame his horse in the fall at the bank, already 

 spoken of, as well as bark his own nose, and secure a very 



