lis A MONTH IN THE FORESTS OF FRANCE. 



CHAP. yiii. 



" "With impotence of will 

 We wheel, though ghastly shadows interpose 

 Eound us, and round each other." 



Shelley. 



In coming down to breakfast rather earlier than 

 usual (for I had impressed it on mj companions that, 

 to have a short easy day for hounds, it was much 

 better to begin early and come home early than to 

 go out late and come home after dark), I found Jules 

 d'Anchald none the worse for being in the water the 

 whole of the previous day ; nor was I the worse for 

 being in the river half the day. Having had rather 

 a hard run of work up to this time, M. d'Anchald 

 insisted that only he and I should ride up to the forest, 

 and then, tying up our horses, use them but in case 

 of emergency. It was, in my opinion, too soon to 

 take dear old Coco (for whom I had an immense af- 

 fection, and it was becoming mutual) out again; but, 

 resolving at the same time to spare him as much as 



