V.


He had for the first time been out hunting with his father and the
neighboring country gentlemen in the autumn of this year, and it appears
that on two occasions he had the brush awarded to him. At his request the
heads of the two foxes were mounted for him, and he proposed to put them
up on either side his fireplace.

The wall, above and for a few inches to the right and left of the
mantelpiece, was bare of tapestry; the first-named place being occupied by
the portrait, while the sides were four feet up the oaken wainscot which
surrounded the whole room behind the tapestry, and from thence to the
ceiling, plaster. The mantelpiece and fireplace were of a dark slaty
stone, and of brick, respectively.

Archibald fixed upon what he considered the most effective positions for
his heads--just above the level of the wainscot, and near enough to the
mantelpiece not to be interfered with by the tapestry. He nailed up one of
them on the left-hand side, the nails penetrating with just sufficient
resistance in the firm plaster; and then, measuring carefully to the
corresponding point on the right-hand side, he proceeded to affix the
other head there. But the nail, on this occasion, could not be made to go
in; and on his attempting to force it with a heavier stroke of the hammer,
it bent beneath the blow, and the hammer came sharply into contact with
the white surface of the wall, producing a clinking sound as from an
impact on metal.

A brief investigation now revealed the fact that a circular disk of iron,