1877—78.] THE PINK WEDDING. 219 



the newlj^-married pair to their train ; and they dashed by the 

 covert just as the good fox faced the holiday footpeoj)le, and 

 just as the gay throng (on business now bent, but still bedecked 

 with bouquets and favours) was pushing its way through the 

 covert and ford. 



A brave fox he was to face apparently the whole of the trade 

 and labour of Melton, who, having feasted their eyes on the 

 panoply of the wedding, had moved bodily on to the covert 

 side, there to view as much more of the day's festivities as 

 the}' could. In spite of the whooping, screaming multitude, 

 whose cheers might have daunted even the brave defenders of 

 Plevna, he buckled unhesitatingly to the task of doing his 

 share to celebrate the day. A better scheme he could not have 

 followed ; for he led the wedding guests a merry dance, where 

 all could vent the cheerful effervescence of their feelings 

 without jostle, hindrance, or check. Wide-spread to right and 

 left, they dashed after the hounds — each man full of ride, the 

 brave audacious, and the timid bold. The blackthorn bull- 

 finches in their route caught the white favours of the plunging 

 horsemen — and, holding them, looked as if they had broken 

 out in blossom for the occasion. We have an old superstition 

 in the Shire, that a new coat invariably means a cropper for 

 the wearer ; and, of a truth, this day did nothing to dispel the 

 behef. There were scores of new garments, and there were 

 scores of falls ; for, as the run went on, men who had taken 

 liberties with their horses at first, were prone to sufi'er for it ; 

 and falls came thick and frequent — while from the passing 

 train bride and groom snatched a glimpse of the moving 

 panorama. It was a fifteen minutes burst to Berry Gorse, 

 then more slowly to Laxton's Covert, where their fox had 

 waited, after he had run a few yards along the banks of the 

 Whissendine. The brook was at once a temptation irresistible. 

 Men went for it as cheerfully as if Perrier-Jouet were still 

 flowing before them, and larked over it in a dozen places. By- 

 and-by they came back singly and more leisurely, as they could 

 find a ford. 



