'Do you think it nice seeing a young lady with so much hunting knowledge?'
'Now you want me to talk slander, but I won't do it. I admire the Miss Tristrams exceedingly, and especially Julia.'
'And which is Julia?'
'The youngest; that one riding by herself.'
'And why don't you go and express your admiration?'
'Ah, me! why don't we all express the admiration that we feel, and pour sweet praises into the cars of the lady that excites it? Because we are cowards, Miss Furnival, and are afraid even of such a weak thing as a woman.'
'Dear me! I should hardly have thought that you would suffer from such terror as that.'
'Because you don't quite know me, Miss Furnival.'
'And Miss Julia Tristram is the lady that has excited it?'
'If it be not she, it is some other fair votary of Diana at present riding into Monkton Wood.'
'Ah, now you are giving me a riddle to guess, and I never guess riddles. I won't even try at it. But they all seem to be stopping.'
'Yes, they are putting the hounds into covert. Now if you want to show yourself a good sportsman, look at your watch. You see that Julia Tristram has got hers in her hand.'
'What's that for?'
'To time the hounds; to see how long they'll be before they find. It's very pretty work in a small gorse, but in a great wood like this I don't care much for being so accurate. But for heaven's sake don't tell Julia Tristram; I should not have a chance if she thought I was so slack.'
And now the hounds were scattering themselves in the wood, and the party rode up the centre roadway towards a great circular opening in the middle of it. Here it was the recognized practice of the horsemen to stand, and those who properly did their duty would stand there; but very many lingered at the gate, knowing that there was but one other exit from the wood, without overcoming the difficulty of a very intricate and dangerous fence.
'There be a gap, baint there?' said one farmer to another, as they were entering.
'Yes, there be a gap, and young Grubbles broke his 'orse's back a getting over of it last year,' said the second farmer.
'Did he though?' said the first; and so they both remained at the gate.
And others, a numerous body, including most of the ladies, galloped up and down the cross ways, because the master of the hounds and the huntsman did so. 'D——— those fellows riding up and down after me wherever I go,' said the master. 'I believe they think I'm to be hunted.' This seemed to be said more espe-
