2o8 THE HAUGHTYSHIRE HUNT. 



failed him. He had ' gone the pace ' in his youth, and few 

 men hving could give him points on the subject of racing, 

 hunting, and his excellent taste in the due appreciation of 

 the fairer part of creation. But, like the eminently sensible 

 man he was, he had always used a nice discretion in all 

 such matters, and so got as near the maximum of enjoy- 

 ment, coupled with the minimum of harm, either to himself 

 or others, as is, perhaps, humanly possible to poor weak, 

 erring mortals. What he honestly could not understand, was 

 how Gravity, his son, bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh, 

 could possibly go on as he did, from year to year, ' existing 

 like a cabbage,' as the Duke called it, and really seeming to 

 like the process. How would he, his father, ever feel able to 

 break the news to this grave and icy young man, that it was 

 positively in contemplation to present him with a new, young, 

 and pretty mamma ? The Duke absolutely shuddered as he 

 thought of it. 



" He's a dear boy," said he to himself, thoughtfully 

 adjusting his glass in his eye, and looking fixedly at his son. 

 "A dear boy, but damme! 3'ou might shut him up in a 

 harem, and he'd calmly sit down and read Horace to the 

 inmates ! ! " 



