his long black hair, and fingered his sash.
Gaston understood.

"The hair and ear-rings may remain, Brillon; but the beard and clothes
must go--except for occasions. Come along."

For the next two hours Gaston explored the stables and the grounds.
Nothing escaped him. He gathered every incident of the surroundings,
and talked to the servants freely, softly, and easily, yet with a
superiority, which suddenly was imposed in the case of the huntsman at
the kennels--for the Whipshire hounds were here. Gaston had never ridden
to hounds. It was not, however, his cue to pretend knowledge. He was
strong enough to admit ignorance. He stood leaning against the door of
the kennels, arms folded, eyes half-closed, with the sense of a painter,
before the turning bunch of brown and white, getting the charm of
distance and soft tones. His blood beat hard, for suddenly he felt as if
he had been behind just such a pack one day, one clear desirable day of
spring. He saw people gathering at the kennels; saw men drink beer
and eat sandwiches at the door of the huntsman's house,--a long, low
dwelling, with crumbling arched doorways like those of a monastery,
watched them get away from the top of the moor, he among them; heard the
horn, the whips; and saw the fox break cover.

Then came a rare run for five sweet miles--down a long valley--over
quick-set hedges, with stiffish streams--another hill--a great combe--a
lovely valley stretching out--a swerve to the right--over a gate--and
the brush got at a farmhouse door.

Surely, he had seen it all; but what kink of the brain was it that the
men wore flowing wigs and immense boot-legs, and sported lace in the
hunting-field? And why did he see within that picture another of two
ladies and a gentleman hawking?

He was roused from his dream by hearing the huntsman say in a quizzical
voice:

"How do you like the dogs, sir?"

To his last day Lugley, the huntsman, remembered the slow look of cold
surprise, of masterful malice, scathing him from head to foot. The
words that followed the look, simple as they were, drove home the naked
reproof:

"What is your name, my man?"

"Lugley, sir."

"Lugley! Lugley! H'm! Well, Lugley, I like the hounds better than I like
you. Who is Master of the Hounds, Lugley?"

"Captain Maudsley, sir."

"Just so. You are satisfied with your place, Lugley?"

"Yes, sir," said the man in a humble voice, now cowed.

The news of the arrival of the strangers had co