y came on he did keep trying, and not entirely without success,
for every now and then a partridge came tumbling nearly into his face.
But Gould shot two to his one, and he did second worst of the party.
However, it was such quick and wholesale work that individual prowess
was taken little notice of. And then there was a long, hot luncheon,
which some of the ladies came out to, and another drive a few miles off
in the afternoon.

It was all very exciting, and Crawley found the day a great deal too
short; but still he would have preferred the snipe-shooting, if he could
only be alone with no one to see his misses. There seemed more sport in
finding your game than in having it driven up to you.

When he went up to dress for dinner he found a hamper of game there,
with a blank label attached, for him to put any address he liked. So he
wrote his mother's; and when it arrived she gave him most unmerited
credit for skill, forethought, and trouble-taking. The Goulds certainly
did things in a princely way.

It rained softly all that night, clearing up about nine in the morning,
when those who were going out with the harriers had been half-an-hour at
breakfast--Miss Clarissa, who was one of them, taking that meal in her
habit. Crawley could hardly eat for excitement. The moment the water
for his tub had been brought he had jumped up, and, directly he was
dressed, hurried to the stables to see the horse he was to ride.

"And which is it to be?" asked Miss Clarissa.

"Well, I meant to take your advice and Daisy; but the groom said she had
a delicate mouth and required a light hand, which I cannot have, you
know, for want of practice. And he said Sir Robert was the stronger
animal and would stay better, though not so fast. So I fixed on Sir
Robert."

"And he will carry you very well if you can hold him; Lionel can't."

"What can't I do?" asked young Gould across the table, with his mouth
full of game-pie.

"Hold Sir Robert."

"Why, his mouth is a bit hard, but I can sit him anyhow."

"Oh, yes, he goes easy enough."

The horses were soon brought round, and they all--a party of five--went
out. Miss Clarissa, the only lady, put her foot into Mr Foljambe's
proffered hand and vaulted lightly into the saddle. Crawley could mount
without awkwardness; he had learned enough for that, and he knew what
length of stirrup suited him, and could trot along the road or canter
over the grass without attracting attention; so a