CHAPTER XXII.
JEMIMA.
As the meet on the next morning was in the park the party at Rufford Hall was able to enjoy the luxury of an easy morning together with the pleasures of the field.

There was no getting up at eight o'clock, no hurry and scurry to do twenty miles and yet be in time, no necessity for the tardy dressers to swallow their breakfasts while their more energetic companions were raving at them for compromising the chances of the day by their delay.

There was a public breakfast down-stairs, at which all the hunting farmers of the country were to be seen, and some who only pretended to be hunting farmers on such occasions.

But up-stairs there was a private breakfast for the ladies and such of the gentlemen as preferred tea to champagne and cherry brandy.

Lord Rufford was in and out of both rooms, making himself generally agreeable.