THE MASTER'S EXPENSES 139 



when I was a Master, more than another, it was the 

 discovery that my servants took a percentage from the 

 tradesmen on all goods suppHed. This is a wretched 

 practice, as, of course, the tax eventually falls on the 

 Master, since the tradesman is not going to lose any- 

 thing by it. I recollect one of the tradesmen asking to 

 see me, and then asking whether I knew if my groom 

 had threatened to go elsewhere if he did not get a 

 certain commission. I told him that if he were fool 

 enough to pay the groom anything he had only himself 

 to blame, for I and not the groom was master in that 

 stable. There, if I remember rightly, this unpleasant 

 matter ended, for the groom had done me no harm 

 personally, and it was not my business to speak to him 

 on the subject. But I have quoted this as an instance 

 of what may go on behind the Master's back, and how 

 simply he can, if he will only take the trouble, remedy 

 such little troubles without friction. 



One evil, however, I was always powerless to remedy, 

 and that was the huntsman getting his meal from one 

 particular dealer. That there were all manner of pri- 

 vate understandings in this fidelity I well knew, but as 

 sure as ever I attempted to change my custom to a 

 rival man, I was gravely assured that the hounds were 

 all wrong and that the new meal was disagreeing with 

 them. As the huntsman is regarded as the guiding 

 authority in the kennels, else he would not be kept, I 

 had to go back to the man who, no doubt, had 

 tipped him more generously than his competitors in 

 business. 



There are other ways in which the young Master 



