LOST OPPORTUNITIES. 127 



nimity. "All in the day's job," we say. " Besides, who knows ? I may 

 see it again to-morrow." But what if in the evening there appears upon 

 the scene that miserable kill-joy, the man who didn't miss ; who drags 

 forth from the recesses of his game-bag, and expects you to admire, and, 

 worse still, congratulate him on having slaughtered, the bird that you had 

 ear-marked as your own? Well, I make no secret of the fact that it is 

 an occasion for displaying Christian charity to which I personally have 

 never yet risen. Were I to express my real feelings in polite English, I 

 should say : " Sir, if I were absolutely certain that, but for your skill as 

 a marksman, the bird in question would now be well on its way to France, 

 I should be able to congratulate you with sincerity ; but this I feel is a 

 very big ' if.' Confound you, sir, why didn't you miss it, too ? " 



