n they looked at the pheasants, and pottered about the place till
the earl said it was time to dress for dinner. "That's hard upon you,
isn't it?" said he. "But, at any rate, you can wash your hands, and
get rid of the blood. I'll be down in the little drawing-room five
minutes before seven, and I suppose I'll find you there."

At five minutes before seven Lord De Guest came into the small
drawing-room, and found Johnny seated there, with a book before him.
The earl was a little fussy, and showed by his manner that he was not
quite at his ease, as some men do when they have any piece of work on
hand which is not customary to them. He held something in his hand,
and shuffled a little as he made his way up the room. He was dressed,
as usual, in black; but his gold chain was not, as usual, dangling
over his waistcoat.

"Eames," he said, "I want you to accept a little present from
me,--just as a memorial of our affair with the bull. It will make you
think of it sometimes, when I'm perhaps gone."

"Oh, my lord--"

"It's my own watch, that I have been wearing for some time; but
I've got another,--two or three, I believe, somewhere upstairs. You
mustn't refuse me. I can't bear being refused. There are two or three
little seals, too, which I have worn. I have taken off the one with
my arms, because that's of no use to you, and it is to me. It doesn't
want a key, but winds up at the handle, in this way," and the earl
proceeded to explain the nature of the toy.

"My lord, you think too much of what happened to-day," said Eames,
stammering.

"No, I don't; I think very little about it. I know what I think of.
Put the watch in your pocket before the doctor comes. There; I hear
his horse. Why didn't he drive over, and then he could have taken you
back?"

"I can walk very well."

"I'll make that all right. The servant shall ride Crofts' horse, and
bring back the little phaeton. How d'you do, doctor? You know Eames,
I suppose? You needn't look at him in that way. His leg is not
broken; it's only his trousers." And then the earl told the story of
the bull.

"Johnny will become quite a hero in town," said Crofts.

"Yes; I fear he'll get the most of the credit; and yet I was at it
twice as long as he was. I'll tell you what, young men, when I got
to that gate I didn't think I'd breath enough left in me to get
over it. It's all very well jumping into a hedge when you're only
two-and-twenty; but when a man comes to be sixty he