She probably felt that some little
apology ought to be made for Mrs Spooner. 'I hope you like
hunting,' she said to Silverbridge.
'Best of all things,' he said enthusiastically.
'Because you know this is Castle Nimrod, in which nothing is
allowed to interfere with the one great business in life.'
'It's like that, is it?'
'Quite like that. Lord Chiltern has taken up hunting as his duty
in life, and he does it with his might and main. Not to have a
good day is a misery to him;--not for himself but because he feels
that he is responsible. We had one blank day last year, and I
thought he never would recover it. It was that unfortunate
Trumpington Wood.'
'How he will hate me.'
'Not if you praise the hounds judiciously. And then there is a Mr
Spooner coming here tonight. He is the first-lieutenant. He
understands all about the foxes, and all about the farmers. He has
got a wife.'
'Does she understand anything?'
'She understands him. She is coming too. They have not been
married long, and he never goes anywhere without her.
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