64 THE COMPLETE SPORTSMAN 



moment to descend her ladyship's front stair- 

 case on her way out. The family butler, with 

 that ceremonious air of a grand seigneur which 

 he reserved for the titled and wealthy, flung the 

 front-door open for Mrs. Grindelbaum to emerge, 

 and the umvitting Lord Bloxham, chained to his 



I latch-key, was precipitated into the front-hall at 

 an incredible rate of speed. Fortunately, the 

 gold chain snapped, and like an arrow from the 

 bow the aged peer flew from one end of the front- 

 hall to the other, cannoned off Mrs. Grindelbaum 

 on to the first footman, rebounded from the 

 first footman on to the third footman, rico- 

 chetted off the third footman on to a priceless 

 grandfather's clock, and, after finishing the last 

 ten yards of the course on his back, was brought 



1 up short by a portrait of the first Earl of Blox- 



I ham (painted by Vandyke) which hung at the 



\ end of the passage. 



Lord Bloxham was then in his eighty-first 

 year and, being a man of economical habits, had 

 made it his practice, ever since the imposition of 

 the super-tax, to save wear and tear to his false 

 teeth by carrying them in his coat-tail pocket 

 between meals. In the course of their owner's 

 fiight across the front-hall these articles came 

 into violent contact with numerous pieces of 

 furniture, and by the time Lord Bloxham 

 reached the Vandyke he had been severely 



