The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-04-05
TRINKETS COLT.
BYE OF. soMERvILLE AND MARTIN ROSS

! And you sell your grandmother's
birthday present to me "
Just that, l suppose" answered Fur
ny with a slow wink
( few days afterward letter from
/ Mr.. Knox informed me that he mad
squared the old lady. and 1t would be
all right about the colt" He further
told me that Mrs. Knox had been good
enough to offer me, with him, days
snipe shooting on the celebrated Aussolas
/ boys, and he proposed to drive me there
the following Monday, If convenient
| Most people found 1t convenient to shoot
/ the Aussolas snipe bog when they got the
/ chance. Eight O'Clock on the following
Monday morning saw FURRY, myself and
a groom packed into a dogcart, with port
manteaus, gun, cases and two ram
/ pant red settlers. 1t was a long drive
! twelve miles at least. and a very cold
one. We passed through long tracts of
/ pasture country, fraught. for FURRY. with
memories of runs. which were recorded
! for me, fence by fence, in every one of
which the biggest dog-fox in the country
had gone to ground. with not two feet
measured accurately on the handle of the
/ whip-between him and the leading
hound through boys that imperceptibly
melted into lakes. and finally down aud
down into a valley, where the fir trees
/ Of Aussolas clustered darkly round
glittering lake, and all but hid the gray
roofs and pointed gables of Aussolas
Castle.
There's a nice stretch of demesne for
you" remarked FURRY pointing down
ward with the whip, land one little old
woman holding it all in the heel of her
fist. Well able to hold it she is too,
and always was, and she'll live twenty
years yet, if it's only to spite the whole
lot of us, and when all's said and done,
goodness knows how she'll leave it,"
ut strikes me you We're lucky to keep
her up to her promise about the colt
said.
FURRY administered a composing kick
to the ceaseless strivings of the red set
ters under the seat.
Il used to be rather a pet with her." he
said, after a pause "but mind you, l
| haven't got him yet and if she gets any
notion ! want TO sell him I'll never get
him; so say nothing about the business
to her"
The tall gates of Aussolas shreked on
their hinges as they admitted us, and
shut with clang behind US in the faces
of an old mare and a couple of young
horses, who foiled in their break for the
eXcitements of the outer world turned
and galloped defiantly on either side of
us. Flurry's admirable cob hammered on,
regardless of all things save his duty.
HE is the only one I have that ia
trust myself here with" said his master,
Ticking him approvingly with the whip;
there are plenty of people afraid to
come here at all, and when my grand
mother goes out driving she has boy
on the box with a basket full of stones
to peg at them. Talk of the dickens,
here she is herself"
! A short, upright old woman was APP
preaching, preceded by a white, woolly
/ dog with sore eyes and bark like a lin
trumpet; we both got out OF the trap
and advanced to meet the lady of the
manor
| may summarize her attire by saying
that she looked as il she had robbed a
scarecrow; her face was small and incon-
gruously refined the skinny hand that
she extended to me had the grubby tan
that bespoke the professional gardener
and was decorated with a magnificent
diamond ring. On her head was a mas
| sive purple velvet bonnet
Il am very glad TO meet you. Major
Yeates,' she said. with an old-fashionec!
precision of utterance. your grandfath-
er was a dancing partner OF mine in old
days at the castle when he was a hand
some young aide de-camp there, and
was-you may judge for yourself what |
| was"
She ended with a startling little hcot
of laughter and 1 was aware that she
| quite realized the worlds opinion of her,
and was Indifferent to it.
Our way to the boys took up across
| Mrs. Knox's home farm, and through a
| large field in which several young horses
We're grazing.
There, now, that's my fellow" said
| FURRY pointing to a fine looking colt:
the chestnut with the white diamond
on his forehead. He'll run into three
| figures before he's done but wen not
| tell that to the old lady"
The famous Aussolas boys were as full
of snipe as usual. and good deal fuller
! OF water than any boys l had ever shot
before / was on my day, and FURRY was
| not; and as he is ordinarily an infinitely
! better snipe shot than l, I felt at peace
with the world and all men as we walked
| back, wet through, at o'clock.
The sunset had waned. and a big white
| moon was making the eastern tower Of
Aussolas look like a thing in a fairy tale
or a play when we arrived at the hall
door. An individual, whom l recognized
as the Robinson Crusoe coaGhman. ad-
mitted US to a hall the like of which one
does not often see. The walls We're pam
eled with dark oak up to the gallery that
ran around three side of it, the balusters
en- the wide staircase were heavily cary
ed and blackened portraits of Flurry's
ancestors on the spindle side stared sour
ly down on their descendant as he tram
PED upstairs with the bog mold on his
hobnailed boots
We had just changed into dry clothes
When Robinson Crusoe showed his red
beard round the corner of the door with
the information that the mistress said
we were TO stay for dinner NV heart
sank. 1t was then barely half-past five
/ said something about having no even
ing clothes and having to get home early
Sure, the dinnerll be in in another