Anthony Trollope 



came up afterwards wet through, with temper by no means 

 improved. But the glory of the day had been the way in 

 which Lord Rufford's young bay mare, who had never seen 

 a brook before, had flown over it with the Major on her 

 back, taking it, as Larry afterwards described, ' just in her 

 stride, without condescending to look at it. I was just 

 behind the Major, and saw her do it.' Larry understood 

 that a man should never talk of his own place in a run, but 

 he didn't quite understand that neither should he talk of 

 having been close to another man who was supposed to 

 have had the best of it. Lord Rufford, who didn't talk 

 much of these things, quite understood that he had received 

 full value for his billet and mount in the improved character 

 of his mare. 



Then there was a little difficulty at the boundary fence of 

 Impington Hall Farm. The Major, who didn't know the 

 ground, tried it at an impracticable place, and brought his 

 mare down. But she fell at the right side, and he was quick 

 enough in getting away from her, not to fall under in the 

 ditch. Tony Tuppett, who knew every foot of that double 

 ditch and bank, and every foot in the hedge above, kept well 

 to the left and crept through a spot where one ditch ran 

 into the other, intersecting the fence. Tony, like a know- 

 ing huntsman as he was, rode always for the finish and not 

 for immediate glory. Both Lord Rufford and Hampton, 

 who in spite of their affected nonchalance were in truth 

 rather riding against one another, took it all in a fly, choosing 

 a lighter spot than that which the Major had encountered, 

 s 273 



