it is," cried Whipcord. "Come, give it a name, or
you'll have to drink another!"

"Oh, brandy," I almost shrieked, willing to do anything rather than
that. "I say, Hawkesbury," I said, reproachfully, "I didn't expect you
were bringing me to this sort of thing."

"It is a shame," he said to me aside. "I would have stopped it if I
could; but don't you see they were eager about their bet, and it was the
only way of quieting them. Never mind."

The rest of the afternoon passed away much as it had begun. After
dinner we went down to the river and took a boat, in which Masham and
Whipcord lay and slept all the time, while Hawkesbury and I rowed them
about. It was with difficulty, about five o'clock, that we got them
ashore again, and half led, half dragged them back to the inn.

"Come," said Hawkesbury to Whipcord, "it's time to be getting the trap
ready for the start back, isn't it?"

"Is it? Go and tell the fellow, some of you," replied our driver.
"I'll be ready pretty soon," said he, moving once more towards the bar.

"You surely aren't going to drink any more," cried I, taking his arm and
trying gently to stop him.

He wrenched his arm loose and gave me a push back, saying, "Young prig!
what's it to do with you?"

"I think he wants to come too," said Masham. "Come along, Batchelor."

I had positively to run away to elude them, and made the pretext of
going to the stable to see after the harnessing of the horse.

When this was done I sought for Hawkesbury.

"Do you think it's safe for Whipcord to drive in the state he's in?"

"Oh, yes. With a horse like that too. He's pretending to be a great
deal worse than he is, just to horrify you."

It seemed ages before we actually started. Whipcord, in a most
quarrelsome humour, had to be dragged almost by force from the bar.
Hawkesbury, at the last moment, discovered that he was going without
paying the bill; while Masham, having once made himself comfortable in
the bar parlour, flatly refused to be moved, and had finally to be left
behind.

The only consolation in this was that I had the tail of the dogcart to
myself, which was infinitely preferable to the odious society of Masham.

It was nearly six when we finally started from Windsor and turned our
horse's head homeward. And this had been my day's enjoyment!

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX.

HOW I FELL BADLY, AND WAS PICKED UP IN A WAY I LITTLE EXPECTED.

The delightful picnic to which I had looked for