"Where shall we find first, Sir William ?" said Calder Jones, in a voice that was really very humble.

"How the mischief am I to know where the foxes are ?" said Sir William, with an oath; and Calder Jones retired unhappy, and for the moment altogether silenced.
And yet Sir William was the most popular man in the county, and no more courteous gentleman ever sat at the bottom of his own table.

A mild man he was, too, when out of his saddle, and one by no means disposed to assume special supremacy.

But a master of hounds, if he have long held the country,--and Sir William had held his for more than thirty years,--obtains a power which that of no other potentate can equal.

He may say and do what he pleases, and his tyranny is always respected.