64 HOUND AND HORN ; 



they were then) out, and Conholt Park lay directly in 

 our way home. 



Fog or no fog, we got on very well to Conholt ; and 

 a. bucket of gruel for the horses, and something besides 

 gruel for ourselves, sent us away a little after five o'clock 

 for our eleven-mile stretch across the down for South 

 Grove and Pewsey Yale. It was thick, and no mistake, 

 but somehow the horses knew their way, though the 

 pace was not much, and the night very dark. It was 

 long past seven o'clock when I found myself in the little 

 village of Milton, and at my own stable door ; and the 

 first thing I heard from my man in waiting was, that 

 Mr. Carter had been up several times to inquire if I 

 had come home, and that he seemed uneasy when he 

 found I had not cast up. 



As I was leaving the stable and going up towards 

 the house I heard through the darkness " Ahem ! " 

 As the old man would say, " I knowed the note," and 

 calling out to him I told him I was all right, and if 

 he would come in with me to my room I would give 

 him five minutes, while I pulled my boots off, before 

 getting ready for dinner, just to let him know what 

 we had done ; and turning into the room as I was 

 speaking I found it already tenanted, as the lady of 

 the house was whihng away the time waiting for her 

 liege lord, in playing with their youngest child, a little 



