nce on the approach of another. It is a way, indeed,
that delicate packs have of recruiting their finances. Nevertheless, the
Mangeysternes did look very like coming to an end about the time that Mr.
Puffington bought Hanby House. The saddler huntsman had failed; John Doe
had taken one of his screws, and Richard Roe the other, and anybody might
have the hounds that liked: Puffington then turned up.

Great was the joy diffused throughout the Mangeysterne country when it
transpired, through the medium of his valet, Louis Bergamotte, that 'his
lor' had _beaucoup habit rouge_' in his wardrobe. Not only habit rouge, but
habit blue and buff, that he used to sport with 'Old Beaufort' and the
Badminton Hunt--coats that he certainly had no chance of ever getting into
again, but still which he kept as memorials of the past--souvenirs of the
days when he was young and slim. The bottle-conjurer could just as soon
have got into his quart bottle as Puff could into the Beaufort coat at the
time of which we are writing. The intelligence of their existence was
quickly followed by the aforesaid fifty-pound cheque. A meeting of the
Mangeysterne hunt was called at the sign of the Thirsty Freeman in
Swillingford--Sir Charles Figgs, Knight--a large-promising but badly paying
subscriber--in the chair, when it was proposed and carried unanimously that
Mr. Puffington was eminently qualified for the mastership of the hunt, and
that it be offered to him accordingly. Puff 'bit.' He recalled his early
exploits with 'Mostyn and old Beaufort,' and resolved that the hunt had
taken a right view of his abilities. In coming to this decision he,
perhaps, was not altogether uninfluenced by a plausible subscription list,
which seemed about equal to the ordinary expenses, supposing that any
reliance could be placed on the figures and calculations of Sir Charles.
All those, however, who have had anything to do with subscription
lists--and in these days of universal testimonializing who has not?--well
know that pounds upon paper and pounds in the pocket are very different
things. Above all Puff felt that he was a new man in the country, and that
taking the hounds would give him weight.

The 'Mangeysterne dogs' then began to 'look up'; Mr. Puffington took to
them in earnest; bought a 'Beckford,' and shortened his military stirrups
to a hunting seat.

CHAPTER XXXIII

A SWELL HUNTSMAN

One evening the rattle of Puff's pole-chains brought, in addition