Tom Hoppey's, and some again were asking
which was Mr. Sponge. Then up went the eye-glasses, while Mr. Sponge sat
looking as innocent and as killing as he could. 'Dear me!' exclaimed one,
'he's younger than I thought.' 'That's him, is it?' observed another; 'I
saw him ride up the street'; while the propriety-playing ones praised his
horse, and said it was a beauty.
The hounds, which they all had come to see, were never looked at.
Mr. Waffles, like many men with nothing to do, was most unpunctual. He
never seemed to know what o'clock it was, and yet he had a watch, hung in
chains, and gewgaws, like a lady's chatelaine. Hunting partook of the
general confusion. He did not profess to throw off till eleven, but it was
often nearly twelve before he cast up. Then he would come up full tilt,
surrounded by 'scarlets,' like a general with his staff; and once at the
meet, there was a prodigious hurry to begin, equalled only by the eagerness
to leave off. On this auspicious day he hove in sight, coming best pace
along the road, about twenty minutes before twelve, with a more numerous
retinue than usual.
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