152 THE CREAM OF LEICESTERSHIRE. [Season 



being pooh-poohed iii turn m favour of om- own wishes ; it took 

 much heel-testing of the lawn and the trampling down of more 

 than one newly- dug flower bed, before we manned om'selves in 

 breeches and gaiters, and (more with the view of avoidmg 

 luncheon than in the hope of hunting) rode forth to the tryst- 

 ing place. Arrived there, though, it was cheering indeed to 

 find that at least the hounds were on the spot, and that many 

 other sportsmen, as sanguine or as foolish as ourselves, were 

 also there assembled. A motley group they made, too, these 

 usually brightly-arrayed Nimrods. I wot the old elm trees 

 hardly believed that under these varied disguises were the same 

 gay Quornites they had so often seen before ; and probably set 

 them down as individuals in quest of the Gaddesby shorthorns 

 rather than of the chase. Truly their garb was a sign of the 

 times, and in each case c^ried the exact impress of the wearer's 

 opmion as to weather and the chance of hunting. (Remember, 

 Melton, unlike Leammgton and Cheltenham, has no Parade to 

 console the disappointed foxhunter as he returns.) They who 

 came in the full glory of pink and leathers (looking amid the 

 wintry scene as if then- valets had forced them, lilce hothouse 

 plants, for the occasion) were radiantly convinced of the fit- 

 ness of the day. They who appeared in butcher boots, saying 

 little but gazing in wistful inquiry ever and anon on the master, 

 were they who, though doubting in their own minds, were yet 

 prepared for serious action. Moreover they had bethought 

 them that, if compelled after all to return from chasing the 

 wild goose in place of the fox, they would proclaim their shame 

 less loudly and present a less crestfallen appearance than if 

 arrayed in the paint and feathers of full dress. Lastly there 

 were the billy cock-and-gaiter number, carrying no sign, vest- 

 ment, or symbol of pursuit, save, perhaps, a hatstring, and, 

 certainly, except a saddle flask. These had come on the oft- 

 chance, partly for the exercise of a ride, and chiefly that, in 

 the (to their light) improbable event of a day's sport, they 

 might not incur the miserable reproach of having missed it 

 through carelessness. 



