y in his own fertile imagination.

"Eh? What! she doesn't hunt?--ah! I see, put my foot in it pretty deep
this time; beg pardon, Mrs. Fairlegh--no offence meant, I assure you.
Well, I thought it was a very fast thing for an old----I--that is, for a
lady to do. I fancied you were so well up in the whole affair, too: most
absurd, really; I certainly am not fit for female society. I think, when
the hunting season's over, I shall put myself to one of those tip-top
boarding-schools to learn manners for a quarter; the sort of shop, you
know, where they teach woman her mission--(how to get a rich husband,
eh, Frank?)--for three hundred pounds a year, washing and church
principles extra, and keep a 'Professor' to instruct the young ladies in
the art of getting out of a carriage on scientific principles, that is,
without showing their ankles. Didn't succeed very well with my sister
Julia, though; the girl happens to be particularly clean about the
pasterns, so she declared it was infringing on the privileges of a
free-born British subject, vowed her ankles were her own property,
and she had a right to do what she liked with 'em, and carried out her
principles by kicking the Professor's shins for him. Plucky girl is
Julia; she puts me very much in mind of what I was when I was her age at
Eton, and pinned a detonating cracker to old Botherboy's coat-tail, so
that, what between the pin and the explosion, it's my belief he would
have found himself more comfortable in the battle of Waterloo, than he
felt the first time he sat down. Ah! those were happy days!"

Thus running on, Lawless kept us in a roar of laughter, till Oaklands,
pulling out his watch, discovered it was time to return to the Hall, and
prepare for dinner. It turned out, on examination, that the habit did
require altering, so the ride was put off till the necessary repairs
~326~~ should be executed. As the next day proved too frosty to hunt,
Lawless and I, under the auspices of the head-keeper, set to work to
slaughter the supernumerary pheasants, Sir John and Harry joining us for
a couple of hours, though Ellis would not allow the latter to carry a
gun. We had a capital day's sport, and got home just in time to dress,
and Sir John having contrived in the course of the afternoon to carry
off my mother and Fanny, we were a very comfortable little party. Sir
John took my mother down to dinner, and Lawless paired off with Fanny,
an arrangement which, as his eccentricities