64 SKIlTCHES in THE HUNTING FIELD. 



as Crossley approaches and exchanges his hack for the 

 bay. 



But this is one of the many things connected with 

 Crossley concerning which we are ignorant. Crossley 

 is down hunting with the famous pack upon whose 

 country our humbler hunt borders. They are at one of 

 their best meets to-day, while we rarely do much from 

 the Kennels, at any rate until after a good deal of use- 

 less knocking about ; yet Crossley takes the trouble to 

 send on his horses and make a long journey himself for 

 the sake of coming to us. 



Crossley is, in fact, a mystery, and, it may be, a very 

 unfortunate man. 



I know nothing against him, nor, so far as I can 

 gather, does anyone else — nothing, that is to say, defi- 

 nite ; but his name has an ill savour about it, and if he 

 is perfectly straight, he is very unlucky in the place he 

 holds in general estimation. 



Crossley was at Eton, and left prematurely. He went 

 into a Lancer regiment, from which after a couple of 

 years he sold out, having by this time entirely dissipated 

 his patrimony, and successfully run up debts to an 

 amount which the sale of his commission would have 

 done little to discharge had he applied the money to- 

 wards such a purpose. 



The fact that of the two chargers with which he then 

 obliged little Flutterton, at a high figure, one proved to 

 be glandered, and the other went very lame, is another 

 of Crossley's misfortunes, perhaps. Symptoms of 



