The Duke had declared that Tregear was nobody. That
could hardly be said of a man who had a seat in the House of
Commons;--certainly could not be said by so staunch a politician as
the Duke.
But had he known of those two thunderbolts he would not have
enjoyed his time at the Beargarden. The thunderbolts fell upon him
in the shape of two letters which reached his hands at the same
time, and were as follows:
'The Bobtailed Fox, 18 December.
'MY LORD,
'At a meeting held in this house today in reference to the hunting
of the Runnymede country, it was proposed that the management of
the hounds should be taken out of the hands of Major Tifto, in
consequence of certain conduct of which it is alleged he was
guilty at the last Doncaster races.
'Major Tifto was present and requested your Lordship's opinion
should be asked as to his guilt. I do not know myself that we
are warranted in troubling your Lordship on the subject. I am,
however, commissioned by the majority of the gentlemen who were
present to ask you whether you think that Major Tifto's conduct on
that occasion was of such a nature as to make him unfit to be the
depositary of that influence, authority and intimacy which ought
to be at the command of a Master of Hounds.
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