AS IT WAS AND AS IT IS 45 



who had brought me out the Times, with the 

 remark that " IVFaster and the young gentlemen 

 seldom has their breakfasts before ten." This was 

 cheerful ; however, I consoled myself with the 

 paper, and just as I had finished discovering who 

 was born, married, or dead, and had commenced 

 reading the entreaties to return to afflicted initial 

 letters, &c., &c., Dick's terrier entered the room, the 

 forerunner of his master, who, remarking on my 

 actually being an earlier bird than himself, was 

 followed, in the course of about twenty minutes, by 

 the others. 



" I suppose we shoot to-day : where shall we 

 begin ? " asks Tom. 



" Oh ! we will shoot up from Brinkhill," answers 

 the Squire. 



" Brinkhill — two miles ; — must have a trap," 

 says Jack. 



The two-mile walk used to be part of the order 

 of the day ; it gave us a little time for conversation, 

 prohibited from its conclusion till lunch ; it braced 

 one up, and made one, in sporting phraseology, " fit " ; 

 but nowadays a carriage is necessary, and the 

 young Nimrod is unequal to any fatigue beyond 

 that which he must necessarily undergo in pursuit 

 of his game. However, we are late, so I can't 

 object to it ; and, burning my throat in my hasty 



