Captain Glomax was speaking in a somewhat dictatorial voice,—­as becomes a Master of Hounds when in the field, though perhaps it should be dropped afterwards—­when the Attorney entered.  There was a sudden rise of voices striving to interrupt the Captain, as it was felt by them all that Mr. Masters must be in possession of information; but the Captain himself went on.  “Of course it is the place for the hounds.  Nobody can doubt that who knows the country and understands the working of it.  The hunt ought to have subscribed and hired the kennels and stables permanently.”

“There would have wanted two to that bargain, Captain,” said Mr. Runciman.

“Of course there would, but what would you think of a man who would refuse such a proposition when he didn’t want the place himself?  Do you think if I’d been there foxes would have been poisoned in Dillsborough wood?  I’d have had that fellow Goarly under my thumb.”

“Then you’d have had an awful blackguard under your thumb, Captain Glomax,” said Larry, who could not restrain his wrath when Goarly’s name was mentioned.

“What does that matter, if you get foxes?” continued the Master.  “But the fact is, gentlemen in a county like this always want to have everything done for them, and never to do anything for themselves.  I’m sick of it, I know.  Nobody is fonder of hunting a country than I am, and I think I know what I’m about.”

“That you do,” said Fred Botsey, who, like most men, was always ready to flatter the Master.

“And I don’t care how hard I work.  From the first of August till the end of May I never have a day to myself, what with cubbing and then the season, and entering the young hounds, and buying and selling horses, by George I’m at it the whole year.”

“A Master of Hounds looks for that, Captain,” said the innkeeper.

“Looks for it!  Yes; he must look for it.  But I wouldn’t mind that, if I could get gentlemen to pull a little with me.  I can’t stand being out of pocket as I have been, and so I must let them know.  If the country would get the kennels and the stables, and lay out a few pounds so that horses and hounds and men could go into them, I wouldn’t mind having a shot for the house.  It’s killing work where I am now, the other side of Rufford, you may say.”  Then he stopped;—­but no one would undertake to answer him.  The meaning of it was that Captain Glomax wanted 500 pounds a year more than he received, and every one there knew that there was not 500 pounds a year more to be got out of the country,—­unless Lord Rufford would put his hand into his pocket.  Now the present stables and the present kennels had been “made comfortable” by Lord Rufford, and it was not thought probable that he would pay for the move to Bragton.

“When’s the funeral to be, Mr. Masters?” asked Runciman,—­who knew very well the day fixed, but who thought it well to get back to the subject of real interest in the town.