After the night air, and plenty of hot tea and a good tuck-in, we shall sleep without dreaming, I can venture to say." The countess and her daughters had gone to bed long before the return of the sportsmen.

At breakfast next morning the boys attempted to relate their adventures, but their vocabulary being wholly insufficient, the coachman was sent for, and requested to give a full account of the proceedings.

This he did, and added on his own account that the little lords had been as cool and collected as if they had been wolf-hunting all their lives.
After breakfast, the letter-bag arrived, and the countess, having opened her correspondence, said that her husband would return the next day.

Great as was the pleasure of the ladies, the boys hardly felt enthusiastic over the news; they were so jolly as they were, that they feared any change would be for the worse.
Next day the count arrived, and the boys soon felt that they had no cause for apprehension.

He greeted them with much cordiality, and told them that he had heard from the countess that he had to thank them for having made the time of his absence pass so cheerfully, and that she had said she did not know how they would have got through the dull time without them.