138 THE HAUGHTYSHIRE HUNT. 



evidently did not aid his sight sufficiently to enable him to see 

 Mr. Binkie's fat red paw held out to clasp his own. 



" Glad to make your acquaintance, Mr. Pinkie — oh, Binkie, 

 pardon me — very pleased to see you out with the hounds. 

 All my neighbours are equally welcome — in the hunting-field. 

 And now we mustn't talk, for fear of spoiling sport." And 

 even one so obtuse as our fat friend could hardly have mis- 

 taken the hint given that the brief interview was at an end. 



The Duke, who had noticed Penelope's beauty at the meets, 

 and had really been almost shaken in his allegiance to Adela at 

 sight of it, could hardly believe that she was the sister of such 

 a very commonplace young man. He turned to his nephew 

 and said, as Stepitoff had done on the previous evening of 

 Penelope : "A freak of Nature, Geoffry ; a freak of Nature ! " 

 and having just caught sight of Gravity driving away past 

 the cross-roads — he was going to inspect the barn roof and 

 kitchen chimney of a complaining tenant — the Duke pressed 

 his horse up alongside that of Miss Comely, and spoke with 

 her in inaudible and apparently amorous whispers. 



' Hoic, hoic ! ' the crack of a whip — then a distant rate, 

 a couple of minutes interval, and a fainfc whimper comes 

 down on the breeze. This is quickly taken up by several 

 hounds, and gradually swells into that great, glorious burst of 

 music which no chorus of sweet singers has ever equalled yet 

 for thrilling a human heart to its core. Diana ! what sins 

 have you to answer for ! The blast of the horn, the glad 

 chorus from fifty throats, bring us all irresistibly into your 

 train, and will do so whilst Englishmen are worth their salt ! 

 You seldom fail, in your cruelty, to kill or maim your votaries, 

 but it's worth the risk. Yes, it's worth the risk ! 



