Excerpt from Saddle and Sabre: A Novel Old Tom Devereux was a hale, hearty man of his years yet; but men do not, as a rule, ride quite SO hard to hounds at sixty as they do in the days Of their hot youth. We all learn to take our pleasures more soberly, and it is well for us, too, if we can take our work somewhat more leisurely. The overlooking of two such farms as North Leach and the adjacent one, held upon lease, involves a considerable amount Of hard work, and Tom Devereux was well pleased when his son settled down to follow steadily in his foot steps. There had been times when he had somewhat doubted the wisdom Of having allowed his sons to go to the University - at all events the eldest he had been afraid it might unsettle him, and give him a distaste for the calling Of a yeoman farmer; and then the Old man had thought solemnly of what was to become Of the land if there was no one to take his place when he was gone. He was fond Of the Old acres that had come down' to him through so many generations Of Devereux. He had made his money out of the land, and respected it accordingly. Moreover, he was as honestly proud and fond Of the Old home Of his family as any noble in the land could be of the stately mansion transmitted to him through a long line Of ancestors. A gray November day is closing in as Lettice Devereux enters the drawing-room, and promptly rings for tea. She is soon seated in a comfortable armchair in front of the glowing fire, in lazy enjoyment Of that luxury. A sharp gallop with the hounds that morning has induced a pleasant langour, which now that she has changed her dress, she feels justified in indulging in. She is already half asleep, when the door Opens abruptly, and her brother in well splashed boots and well-stained pink enters the room. Hulloa, Lettice, he exclaimed, what became Of you? You didn't come to grief Of any kind with the young one, did you? But I missed you just after that rattling burst we had in the morning; and though we were lucky enough to find an afternoon fox, who gave us a very decent run, I never caught sight Of your habit again. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.