Page:Maud Howe - A Newport Aquarelle.djvu/168

 meal were bought with the gratuities which Stirrups had received from various of his master's friends, in compensation for some slight services. The cigar which Larkington had smoked on the morning of the picnic had been given to Stirrups by Mr. Belhomme, a week before, when he had taken a stone from the hoof of that gentleman's horse. The groom, foreseeing the not unprecedented state of affairs which was approaching, had put by the fragrant Havana, and on the morning of the memorable picnic had it beside Larkington's plate at his frugal breakfast.

If the master did not make a good luncheon, the man, with glistening eyes, surveyed the luxuriously spread tables, and chose the various dishes which he would attack vigorously, when the time should come for him and his fellows to gather up the fragments of the feast.

At last—it seemed to the hungry Stirrups a very long luncheon—Mr. Gray