A Fair Fraud — page 127: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

116 A Fair Fraud ‘Oh, it’s only a little thing, dear Mrs Drury; but my dear girl is so anxious, and she was afraid to ask you herself. She has never — would you believe it?—Jjoined in a shooting - party lunch in her life! All the times we have stayed in those great German castles, where the gentlemen used to go stag and boar hunting in the forests, besides lots of English country houses also, where parties are made up of the ladies to drive over to some romantic spot to take out the lunch to them; and more than once I have gone, but dear Hetty has been so unfortunate ; she was always prevented—once she had a bad cold, and an- other day she had sprained her ankle, and there was a sick headache stopped her too; so somehow she always missed going, and she says she should like so much to drive out to- day and join the gentlemen, as we understand , their lunch is to be sent out to them. And Hetty does so Jove a picnic; she is really quite a baby about picnics | tell her.’ Mrs Drury, whose habits and customs were fixed as the stars, was rather put out by the request. ‘Well, really, Mrs Lane, I don’t know quite what to say. Mr Drury always arranves these things, and he ordered the dogcart, | believe—one of the grooms was to drive it over to the farmhouse, where they are to GOMMGIOO <S (GO)