134 ^^^ HAUGHTYSHIRE HUNT. 



" And mind 3'ou come early in the afternoon, or ^Ye shan't 

 see anything of you ! " exclaimed Miss Lmnpkin to our 

 friend in her most fascinating manner, as Binkie saw them 

 into their carriage. "We shall be most disappointed if you 

 don't arrive by four o'clock." 



"Oh, really ! " squeaked Binkie, enraptured. He then shut 

 his fingers into the carriage-door, choked back a naughty word 

 as he disengaged them again, and returned to the ball-room, 

 walking very stiffly from the hips, and with a knowing look 

 in his half-closed eye, which was especially accentuated 

 whenever he caught sight of any of his acquaintances. 



Soon after the departure of Sir Toodle and his family, the 

 long-suffering Pea-Green wind-jammers gave evident signs of 

 having had enough of it. Herr Splitzen Lagerbier was 

 ' slinging the timber ' as vigorously as ever, but his time was 

 more than vague ; and we fear that the general performance 

 of the orchestra would not have given satisfaction to His 

 Highness the Elector, could its strains have reached him in 

 far-off Sorsedge-Mete : indeed, from sheer physical exhaustion, 

 they were fast degenerating to the level of those itinerant 

 musicians from the Fatherland, whose efforts in our streets 

 are so eminently calculated for the production of internal 

 suffering in the human race. The Duke was whispering 

 something sweet and soft into the fair Adela's ear, by way 

 of farewell, when Lord Gravity took his father by the arm 

 and gently, but firmly, conducted him down the steps to the 

 waiting carriage, and the departure of the Ducal party was 

 the signal for a general break up. The Duke's last words to 

 Adela were — 



" To-morrow, then, at the meet, I shall see you? " 



