“Oh, thank you, daddy!”
“Now, if you say daddy again, I’ll alter my mind,” said the old gentleman, angrily.
“There, then, I won’t,” said Fin. “But I say, pa, we must have a groom.”
“Of course, my dear.”
“And riding-habits.”
“To be sure.”
“And we can get them in town. Oh, Tiny, do say ‘Hooray’ for once in your life.”
“Er-rum! It’s my intention,” said Sir Hampton, “to patronise the sports of our country, and foster hunting, game-keeping, and the like. By the way, that man Lloyd might do some commissions for me. Matty, you will keep house till we return. My dears, we start to-morrow morning.”
“Then all I’ve got to say,” said Miss Matilda, sharply, “is this—”
“Yelp! yelp! yelp!”—a succession of wild shrieks from beneath the antimacassar, out of one side of which lay a thin black tail, in very close proximity to Fin’s pretty little foot, and in an instant Aunt Matty was down upon her knees, talking to and caressing the dog.