meeting Freddy himself, proved irresistible, and I decided to go.
Oaklands, who had received a similar invitation, was unluckily not able
to accept it, as his father had fixed a shooting-party for that day,
at which, and at the dinner that was to follow, Harry's presence was
indispensable.

It was in the afternoon of a glorious September day that I set off
on horseback for Hillingford. I had accompanied the sportsmen in the
morning, and had walked just enough to excite without fatiguing myself;
and now the elastic motion of the horse (a valuable hunter of Sir
John's)--the influence of the fair scene around me, as I cantered over
the smooth turf of Heathfield Park, and along the green lanes beyond
it--the prospect of seeing again an old companion of my boyhood's
days--all contributed to produce in me an exhilaration of spirits which
seemed to raise me above the _kleinigkeiten_, the little, nesses (as
the Germans so well express it) of this world, and to exalt me to some
higher and nobler sphere. Out of this day-dream I was at length aroused
by the clatter of horses' feet and the rattle of wheels in the lane
behind me, while a man's voice, in tones not of the most gentle
description, accosted me as follows: "Now then, sir, if you've got a
licence to take up the whole road, I'll just trouble you to show it!"
With a touch of the spur I caused my horse to bound on one side, and, as
I did so, I turned to look at the speaker. Perched high in mid-air, upon
some mysterious species of dog-cart, bearing a striking resemblance to
the box of a mail-coach, which had contrived, by some private theory of
development of its own, to dispense with its body, while it had enlarged
its wheels to an almost incredible circumference; perched on the top of
this remarkable machine, and enveloped in a white greatcoat undermined
in every direction by strange and unexpected pockets, was none other
than the Honourable George Lawless! The turn-out was drawn by a pair
~116~~of thorough-breds, driven tandem, which were now (their irascible
tempers being disturbed by the delay which my usurpation of the road
had occasioned) relieving their feelings by executing a kind of hornpipe
upon their hindlegs. The equipage was completed by a tiger, so small,
that beyond a vague sensation of top-boots and a livery hat, one's
senses failed to realise him.

"Why, Lawless!" exclaimed I; "you are determined to astonish the
natives, with a vengeance: such a turnout as