“He is a very rich man, I suppose.”  Then Mr. Morton endeavoured to explain the position of Captain Glomax.  He was not rich.  He was no one in particular—­except that he was Captain Glomax; and his one attribute was a knowledge of hunting.  He didn’t keep the “dogs” out of his own pocket.  He received 2,000 pounds a year from the gentlemen of the county, and he himself only paid anything which the hounds and horses might cost over that.  “He’s a sort of upper servant then?” asked the Senator.

“Not at all.  He’s the greatest man in the county on hunting days.”

“Does he live out of it?”

“I should think not.”

“It’s a deal of trouble, isn’t it?”

“Full work for an active man’s time, I should say.”  A great many more questions were asked and answered, at the end of which the Senator declared that he did not quite understand it, but that as far as he saw he did not think very much of Captain Glomax.

“If he could make a living out of it I should respect him,” said the Senator;—­” though it’s like knife-grinding or handling arsenic, an unwholesome sort of profession.”

“I think they look very nice,” said Morton, as one or two well-turned-out young men rode up to the place.

“They seem to me to have thought more about their breeches than anything else,” said the Senator.  “But if they’re going to hunt why don’t they hunt?  Have they got a fox with them?” Then there was a further explanation.

At this moment there was a murmur as of a great coming arrival, and then an open carriage with four post-horses was brought at a quick trot into the open space.  There were four men dressed for hunting inside, and two others on the box.  They were all smoking, and all talking.  It was easy to see that they did not consider themselves the least among those who were gathered together on this occasion.  The carriage was immediately surrounded by grooms and horses, and the ceremony of disencumbering themselves of great coats and aprons, of putting on spurs and fastening hat-strings was commenced.  Then there were whispered communications from the grooms, and long faces under some of the hats.  This horse hadn’t been fit since last Monday’s run, and that man’s hack wasn’t as it should be.  A muttered curse might have been heard from one gentleman as he was told, on jumping from the box, that Harry Stubbings hadn’t sent him any second horse to ride.  “I didn’t hear nothing about it till yesterday, Captain,” said Harry Stubbings, “and every foot I had fit to come out was bespoke.”  The groom, however, who heard this was quite aware that Mr. Stubbings did not wish to give unlimited credit to the Captain, and he knew also that the second horse was to have carried his master the whole day, as the animal which was brought to the meet had been ridden hard on the previous Wednesday.  At all this the Senator looked with curious eyes, thinking that he had never in his life seen brought together a set of more useless human beings.