NATURE AND SPORT IN BRITAIN 



the length of the frost, the prospect of more snow, an 

 the welfare of his deer. At that moment a figure came 

 into view, crossing the corner of his park. It was 

 a dull, dark morning ; but Sir Edmund Wing had a 

 keen eye, and he noticed that the figure paused a 

 moment, as if to look about, before passing on. The 

 knight's brow contracted ; he watched the figure till 

 it became lost in the wintry gloom, and then turned 

 to the table. Breakfast was a hearty meal at Cleather- 

 cote Manor ; a great fire burned bravely on the open 

 hearth ; Lady Wing and her two children were already 

 seated ; the knight fell vigorously to his repast. A 

 plate of brawn, a slice or two of venison pasty, a couple 

 of manchets, and a flagon of good ale, and Sir Edmund 

 rose, refreshed and strengthened. Presently, after an 

 interview with his steward, he called for his outdoor 

 gear. A pair of long brown boots, reaching to his 

 mid-thighs, were brought to him ; into these he 

 struggled, and then, stamping about the hall to get his 

 feet well home, was assisted by a serving-man into 

 a warm cloak of thick plum-coloured cloth, trimmed 

 with fur, reaching below his hips. Now setting a 

 broad, flat cap of the same material jauntily on the side 

 of his head, and thrusting his white hands into leather 

 gauntlets, the knight took his staff and sallied forth. 

 First looking at his stables and seeing that his horses 

 were well strawed and tended, he set off at a brisk 

 pace down the long avenue of elms planted by his 

 grandfather fifty years before, when, in the second year 

 of Henry the Seventh's reign, the building of the great 

 manor-house of Cleathercote was begun. Towards 

 the end of the avenue Sir Edmund turned away from 

 the well-trodden path, beaten hard by many feet upon 

 the snow, and plunged across the smooth white waste 

 that lay before him. He ploughed his way steadily for 



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