DEBATEABLE LAND 83 



a Master of the Buckhounds upon the understanding that 

 he was to prepare himself and those committed to his 

 charge for their latter end. The process was to be gradual ; 

 as far as possible painless ; but it was to be complete. The 

 doomed office was offered me, and, mindful of Lord Lans- 

 downe's advice to the most eminent of a long line of pre- 

 decessors,' I accepted it with all its suicidal conditions. 

 One Minister wrote congratulating me on my moriturus 

 appointment, and I discussed in cheerful after-dinner con- 

 verse the various aspects and possibilities of disestablish- 

 ment with one or two of our most trusted leaders. There 

 are kennel secrets just as there are Cabinet and stable secrets. 

 But I must chance the charge of indiscretion this paragraph 

 may bring up against me. 



Threatened men, they say, live long. At all events a 

 threatened placeman quickly develops new instincts of self- 

 preservation. I made up my mind very quickly that the 

 office and its responsibilities would be entirely to my liking. 

 Ascot Eaces and the terrors of the Royal Enclosure were in 

 a reassuring distance. Forest hunting, on the other hand, 

 was already beckoning to me in the near and inviting fore- 

 ground. After going through the stables at Cumberland 

 Lodge with Lord Coventry, the most helpful and entertaining 

 of predecessors, on a glorious day in August, and just making 

 acquaintance with the hounds, the sun- bathed kennel green, 

 the wisteria in heavy bloom against the yellow brick of the 

 hack stable, I determined that life was sweet, and that I 

 would die hard. Even a ' Star-man ' should not rebuke me 

 for these admissions, seeing that they illustrate the most 

 malignant instincts of the Court-placeman. 



I quite see that my having taken so naturally to my new 



' Lord Granville consulted Lord Lansdowne as to whether he should accept 

 the Buckhounds. Lord Lansdowne's reply was that he had never yet known it 

 go against a man's political career to have something to give up. 



G 2 



