Red Room and Other Chat 29 



strated repeatedly that a cold shower causes the im- 

 agination to run wild, and from it the most Mun- 

 chausen-like tales of hunting experiences have been 

 produced. The genial Baron himself would have 

 found his invention dull here after a " run," such was 

 the extravagance of the gasconade. One can read 

 the Baron's delightful fancies in quiet, but a " Rav- 

 ing Ward " rhapsody had to be listened to while 

 some four or five other thrilling experiences were 

 being told, all with great emphasis and power. The 

 aggregate noise was like the roar of Niagara. From 

 this stentorian shouting the room took its name. 



In the " Raving Ward " the Club crutches were 

 then kept, and though significant of the perils of the 

 chase they were seldom used. They stood in gloomy 

 silence, with perhaps the pent-up indignation of wall- 

 flowers, watching the bathers perform on the stilts 

 of high spirits, — the effervescence of a successful 

 "run." 



It is by no means from the dim past that the old 

 " Chebacco " House looms up. The air seemed 

 heavy as you entered the low-studded dining-room, 

 with its chocolate and gilt wall paper, red tablecloth, 

 and doily to match. Glancing about as one unfolded 

 the doily, the surroundings caused a depressed feeling, 

 — a sense of "carrying weight." A glass of cham- 

 pagne, and the " carrying weight " feeling disappears, 

 in time for the inevitable broiled chicken, — always 

 good, perhaps for being cooked over a wood fire. 



