I90 STAG-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 



exposes and condemns a deer to what this means, is a 

 criminal in boots and breeches. However, the farm upon 

 which we were to turn out, at all events, was not wired. 

 If, as I expected, we ran at once into a wired country, I 

 meant to stop the hounds and trust to luck, which had often 

 befriended me, as regards the deer. In the event, however, 

 these resolutions were not tested, as it was impossible to 

 hunt owing to a cotton-wool fog which never lifted. 



Never shall I forget the depressing accompaniments 

 of that da}. Just as we grumble more at our mishaps than 

 we give thanks for our benefits, bad days have always 

 impressed themselves more upon me than the good days. 

 Only one of my stalwarts, the London gentlemen, turned up 

 at Paddington with a friend from the North. The pea-soup 

 fog would certainly not have kept the rest at home ; and as 

 my eye swept the platform for my missing divisions with 

 all the heart-searchings of Deborah and Barak, I realised 

 that their absence could only be due to the Quixotic nature 

 of the enterprise. Neither the veteran scarlet of Mr. Bowen- 

 May nor the dreadnought outlines of Mr. Noble Smith 

 were to be seen. On the other hand I discerned a respectful 

 pity in the demeanour of the courteous staff of the Great 

 Western Eailway, who contribute so materially to the 

 comfort of hunting with the Queen's Hounds. However, 

 after our locomotive had wheezed and creaked like some 

 monster in distress, off we went in an all but empty train. 

 London's yellow-brick girdle always depresses me. But 

 on this particular morning the row upon row of crowded 

 loneliness, the symmetrical monotony broken only by the 

 pre-eminence of some public-house, the panorama of neutral 

 tints, were quite in harmony with my spirits. Circumstances 

 seemed to be too much for me, just as they must be for 

 those who have to live in those endless yellow-brick houses. 



There is a great deal about the look of a platform when 



