escape.

"Everything happened as he had foreseen. Suddenly, the corn-crake found
itself on the borders of the clover, and it could not go any further
without showing itself; Medor stood and pointed, half-looking round at
me, but at a sign from me, he drew up to it, flushed the corn-crake;
_bang_! down it came, and Medor, as he brought it to me, wagged his tail,
as much as to say: 'How about that, Monsieur Hector?'"

Courville, Darnetot, and the two ladies laughed very heartily at those
picturesque descriptions into which the Baron threw his whole heart. He
grew animated, moved his arms about, and gesticulated with his whole
body; and when he described the death of anything he had killed, he gave
a formidable laugh, and said:

"Was not that a good shot?"

As soon as they began to speak about anything else, he left off
listening, and hummed a hunting song, or a few notes to imitate a hunting
horn, to himself.

He had only lived for field sports, and was growing old, without thinking
about it, or guessing it, when he had a severe attack of rheumatism, and
was confined to his bed for two months, and nearly died of grief and
weariness.

As he kept no female servant, for an old footman did all the cooking, he
could not get any hot poultices, nor could he have any of those little
attentions, nor anything that an invalid requires. His gamekeeper was his
sick nurse, and as the servant found the time hang just as heavily on his