26o STAG-HUNTING RECOLLECTIONS 



through ; people used to drive out to see them. Our house 

 in the Kue Eoyale was actually tenanted by Prussian officers, 

 who behaved very well and made a sensible use of every- 

 thing and of the servants. Fortunately my father prudently 

 buried a recent consignment of claret in the garden before 

 he left. 



My first pony was black — a mai-e called Mignonne. 8he 

 was bought at Cheris. I don't know how she was bred, but 

 her shoulders were good enough to permit of her kicking 

 high. Our groom — who used also to cirer the parquet 

 floors — was an ex-dragoon, an Alsatia.n. If the day was 

 cold, clear, and sunny, he always warned me that Mignonne 

 might be gaie. He was often right about this, and I was 

 often kicked off. My father did not care much about the 

 hunting. ' One fool follows another,' he used to say, and 

 he seldom came out, or if he did went home early, so my 

 education in venerie was left to Isidore, who prided himself 

 upon a complete knowledge of its martial observances 

 and excellent mysteries. We had great fun together, and we 

 were great friends. 



Isidore was not an over-confident rider, but in his shiny 

 peaked cap, alpaca coat, white duck trousers and straps, 

 which was his costume on sunny spring days, he circum- 

 vented an academy canter down an alley as well as his 

 neighbours. When I first went to school in 1864 Mignonne 

 was sold. However, I always got out hunting when 

 I came home for the holidays. I was soon promoted to 

 independence and an animal called ' Enguerrand,' just 

 out of training, and after Enguerrand to a three-year- 

 old called ' Flambeau,' and sometimes I was allowed to hire. 

 Flambeau had a chequered career. He could ' run a bit ' 

 --an expensive accomplishment — and once managed to win 

 a match either at Chantilly or Longchamps. Then he 

 used to go stag and l)()iir limiting, wliicli lie liked better 



