A January Frost 



knowledge of the country. So he hired horses 

 for the fortnight, and wrote a polite letter to the 

 secretary enclosing a cheque for a third of the 

 minimum subscription, and informing him that 

 he contemplated hunting a fortnight with the 



hounds. The secretary returned his cheque 



with a curt and not very civil intimation that 

 the minimum subscription was so-and-so. Of 

 course the gentleman did not hunt; he had to 

 pay for his horses, though, and his holiday was 

 spoiled. 



Now he calculated the whole case up in this 

 way. A subscriber of the minimum amount — I 

 may say the subscription was a big one, no 

 paltry ten pounds — would be likely to get, 

 between the middle of October and the end of 

 April, something like thirty days in a fairly open 

 season. He in a fortnight in January might 

 get eight days, but he might only get seven, or 

 six, or even fewer, and he thought a third of 

 the minimum subscription was a liberal one. 

 And so do I. 



But it may be asked, why did he go to so 



exacting a hunt when there are plenty of hunts 



103 



