234 ^^HE HAUGHTYSHIRE HUNT. 



been over the first three fences while you were thinkmg about 

 startmg ! " 



" Good-bye, and don't you forget my gloves ! " 



" Jolly day it's been. Awfully glad old Eonald's won the 

 Cup." 



" Good-night, Travers. I hope this is the last time you'll 

 attempt steeplechase riding. Really, I can't help saying that 

 I think you made yourself perfectly ridiculous in that absurd 

 dress ! " 



" Oh, really ! " etc., etc. 



* * * * 



There was no house-party at the Castle, and the Duke 

 and his son, after dining together, adjourned to the former's 

 sanctum. Gravity did not smoke — it made him feel ill — 

 and the fact of his accompanying his revered parent to the 

 smoking-room, instead of joining him there at a later hour, as 

 was his custom, filled the Ducal ' guilty conscience ' with 

 alarm. 



" Wonder if he guesses anything? H'm, well, he's got to 

 know all about it, so here goes." But His Grace took care to 

 get his cigar well alight before taking the plunge. It is really 

 astonishing what an amount of confidence smoking gives a 

 man. After the first six whiffs the Duke felt strengthened 

 for the coming ordeal; comforted, but still decidedly ill at 

 ease. 



"Er — I have something which " began father and son 



simultaneously — then they both came to an abrupt stop. 



" I beg pardon, dear boy, you were about to say " 



" I '? — oh no ; what I have to say will keep. You go on, sir ; 

 you were going to say " 



