CHAPTER IV

DEALING WITH MATTERS OF HEARSAY AND MATTERS OF SPORT One raw, foggy evening, early in the following December, the house at Newlands presented an unusually animated scene. On the gravel of the carriage-sweep, without, grooms walked breathed and sweating horses--the steam from whose bodies and nostrils showed white in the chill dusk--slowly up and down. In the hall, within, a number of gentlemen, more or less mud-bespattered, regaled themselves with cheerful conversation, with strong waters of unexceptionable quality…