I'm not so old as you are, you know.
Everything must have a beginning.' Mr Dobbes wished 'the
beginning' might have taken place elsewhere; but there had been
some truth in the remark.
'What on earth made you tell him crammers like that?' asked
Silverbridge, as the brothers sat together afterwards smoking on
the wall of the bridge.
'Because he made an ass of himself; asking me whether I could
shoot.'
On the next morning they started at seven. Dobbes had determined
to be cross, because, as he thought, the young men would certainly
keep him waiting; and was cross because by their punctuality they
robbed him of any just cause for offence. During the morning on
the moor they were hardly near enough each other for much
conversation, and very little was said. According to the
arrangement made they returned to the house for lunch, it being
their purpose not to go far from home till their numbers were
complete. As they came over the bridge and put down their guns
near the door, Mr Dobbes spoke the first good-humoured word they
had heard from his lips.
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