GONE TO GROUND.
(PORTRAITS OF FOUR B.V.H. PRIZE WINNERS.)
(From a picture by Basil Nightingale, in the possession of Lady Theodora Guest.)
Perhaps I am a Sybarite, but I do like to drive both to and from hunting, and to have a second horse out completes my joy. An open cart with a polo pony to drive, is to me better than all the broughams in Christantee. To drive on in the morning through the soft damp air that smells like hunting, with hopes running high for the sport to come, seeing the tiniest second horseman jogging on with the biggest of horses, everything makes one feel the joy of life. And when the day is over, to slide off your horse and send him home, and turn in yourself to a bright fire, and tea and poached eggs, at some little Inn by the way, is most comforting. Then you wrap yourself up in your fur coat and woolly gloves, and tuck yourself in to the rugs, and bowl away home in the twilight, with the stars twinkling above you, and the blackbird chuckling his good-night, while the pony trots his best in the anticipation of oats to come. A pleasant sense of healthy tiredness is upon you, which serves to make you appreciate the comforts of your drive, as you sit there cosy and warm, dreaming of the happy day that is done.
R. M. Burn.
Elliott and Fry. 55, Baker Street.
LADY GIFFORD AND HER HARRIERS.