id Archie, recommencing his duty. "The
hounds will be here on Saturday, and I'll bet three to one I find a fox
before twelve o'clock, or, say, half-past twelve--that is, if they'll
draw punctual and let me do as I like with the pack. I'll bet a guinea
we find, and a guinea we run, and a guinea we kill; that is, you know,
if they'll really look for a fox."

The rector had been willing to fall into a little hunting talk for the
sake of society, but he was not prepared to go the length that Archie
proposed to take him, and therefore the subject dropped.

"At any rate I shan't stay here after to-morrow," said Sir Hugh, still
addressing himself to his brother. "Pass the wine, will you, Harry; that
is, if your father is drinking any."

"No more wine for me," said the rector, almost angrily.

"Liberty Hall," said Sir Hugh; "everybody does as they like about that.
I mean to have another bottle of claret. Archie, ring the bell, will
you?" Captain Clavering, though he was further from the bell than his
elder brother, got up and did as he was bid. The claret came, and was
drunk almost in silence. The rector, though he had a high opinion of the
cellar of the great house, would take none of the new bottle, because he
was angry. Harry filled his glass, and attempted to say something. Sir
Hugh answered him by a monosyllable, and Archie offered to bet him two
to one that he was wrong.

"I'll go into the drawing-room," said the rector, getting up.

"All right," said Sir Hugh; "you'll find coffee there, I daresay. Has
your father given up wine?" he asked, as soon as the door was closed.

"Not that I know of," said Harry.

"He used to take as good a whack as any man I know. The bishop hasn't
put his embargo on that as well as the hunting, I hope?" To this Harry
made no answer.

"He's in the blues, I think," said Archie. "Is there anything the matter
with him, Harry?"

"Nothing as far as I know."

"If I were left at Clavering all the year, with nothing to do, as he is,
I think I should drink a good deal of wine," said Sir Hugh. "I don't
know what it is--something in the air, I suppose--but everybody always
seems to me to be dreadfully dull here. You ain't taking any wine
either. Don't stop here out of ceremony, you know, if you want to go
after Miss Burton." Harry took him at his word, and went after Miss
Burton, leaving the brothers together over their claret.

The two brothers remained drinking their wine, but they drank it