You dropped in quite unexpectedly and informally after a pleasant stroll about the fields with a double-barrel, untrammelled by any attendant.

The dogs were all over cleavers sticking to their coats, and your boots had to be wiped with a wisp of straw; your pocket was heavy with a couple of rabbits or a hare, and your hands black enough from powder and handling gates and stiles.

But they made you feel immediately that such trifles were not of the slightest account.
The dogs were allowed to rush in anyhow and set to work to lick their paws by the fire as if the house was their own.

Your apology about your boots and general state of disorder was received with a smile by the mistress, who said she had sons of her own, and knew their ways.

Forthwith one sturdy son seized the double-barrel, and conveyed it to a place of safety; a second took the rabbits or the hare, that you might not be incommoded by such a lump in your pocket, and sent the game on home to your quarters by a labourer; a third relieved you of your hat.