Page:Vivian Grey, Volume 1.djvu/177

 "Mrs. Million will do what she likes; I only know that I shall dine in the hall, whatever happens, and whoever comes; and so, I suppose, will Miss Cynthia Courtown?"

Vivian rode out alone, immediately after breakfast, to cure his melancholy by a hard gallop. He left his horse to choose its own road; and, at length, he found himself plunging in a corn field.

"Halloo, sir! beg pardon; but your horse's feet will do no good to that standing corn; for when there's plenty of roads to ride over—my maxim is, keep out of inclosures."

Vivian turned round, and recognized a friend in the person of a substantial and neighbouring farmer.

Daniel Groves, or as he was commonly called Mister Groves, was one of those singular personages whose eccentricities procure them, from all the surrounding neighbourhood, the reputation of being "quite a character." Daniel