'It is always the way,' said Silverbridge. 'If you
miss a day, it is sure to be the best thing of the season. An hour
and a quarter with hardly anything you could call a check! It is
the only very good thing I have seen since I have been here. Mrs
Spooner was with them all through.'
'And I suppose you were with Mrs Spooner.'
'I wasn't far off. I wish you had been there.'
On the next day the meet was at the kennels, close to Harrington,
and Silverbridge drove his friend over in a gig. The Master and
Lady Chiltern, Spooner and Mrs Spooner, Maule, and Mrs Maule,
Phineas Finn, and host of others condoled with the unfortunate
young man because he had not seen the good thing yesterday. 'We've
had it a little faster once or twice,' said Mrs Spooner with
deliberation, 'but never for so long. Then it was straight as a
line, and a real open kill. No changing you know. We did go
through the Daisies, but I'll swear to its being the same fox.'
All of which set Tregear wondering. How could she swear to her
fox? And if they had changed, what did it matter? And if it had
been a little crooked, why would it have been less enjoyable? And
was she really so exact a judge of pace as she pretended to be?
'I'm afraid we shan't have anything like that today,' she
continued.
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