164 TALES AND TRAITS OF SPORTING LIFE. 



will ycu ? and I'll settle with you when I come hack to 

 town." 



*' If you please, ma'am, the man has hrought the 

 fowl — such a hig'^ one ! ii.nd please, where shall I put 

 it?" 



*' Where shall you put it ? — why where you always do, 

 you silly girl — in one of your pantries, of course." 



^' But it's alive, ma'am." 



•^ Dear me, how stupid of the people ! hut is'nt the 

 g-ardener here to-day ? — Well, get him to kill it, for I 

 shall want it for dinner to-morrow, you know, as Miss 

 Montmorency is coming, and I should like to give 

 her a treat." 



^'Yes, ma'am." 



W^hen Willie got hack to town again, the day after the 

 dinner, matters evidently were not quite '^to rights." 

 Polly was half sulky — ^* he had disappointed her — had'nt 

 done as he promised." 



*'Buthow?'^ 



'^Why, that horrid Cochin China — such a skinny, 

 lank}^, stringy thing, they could'nt eat a bit of it." 



"Why, hang the fellow!" said WiUie, '^I ordered the 

 best in London." 



" Well, you onl}- look at it then ; I have kept it on 

 purpose for you to see." 



And Willie, on inspection, was fain to confess 

 that he rvas " a leggy beggar, and a good deal over- 

 trained ;" and so went onto Mr. Bailey in a frame of 

 mind accordingly. 



