94 HOUND AND HORN ; 



"knowing." George Carter then knew them as boys, 

 but nothing more. But time works its changes ; boys 

 become men ; some go away here, some there, to their 

 farms or merchandise, or what not, and some into 

 Her Majesty's service. These last, perhaps, visit the 

 paternal roof- tree less frequently than others, for many 

 reasons ; and it happened that Mr. Charles Knatchbull 

 donned the red coat and epaulettes, as they were then 

 worn, and passed some years of his life on distant 

 stations. He therefore saw but little of the old hunts- 

 man, and upon his retiring from the service the old 

 man had gone into private life. In due course of time 

 Mr. Knatchbull left Cholderton Lodge for the happy 

 hunting grounds. 



It was not, then, till the boy of former years had 

 grown into a man and a colonel in Her Majesty's 

 service, that he once more came to reside in Wiltshire. 

 But if the father had passed away, he had left a proto- 

 type of himself in his son, especially in voice, which 

 was deep and sonorous. It was, then, while he happened 

 to be at my house one afternoon in 1884, that he ex- 

 pressed a wish to pay a visit to the old huntsman : and 

 together we went. He was aware of the old man's 

 blindness, so it was agreed that he was not to give 

 any name, nor say who the visitor was. On going 

 up stairs into his room, I gave him my usual greeting, 



