Page:Armatafragment00ersk.djvu/281

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( 53 )

¬emotion, rt What can you possibly mean ? — How could we answer for such a dreadful breach of hospitality ? It is a great favour, I assure you, to see the place, and would you return it by such an outrage as this?" I was almost pe- trified with surprise ; and, holding fast my nose till the horrid effluvia had evaporated, I asked him how it could possibly be considered as an ungrateful trespass upon the lord of this do- main to kill a most offensive wild beast, de- tected in the murderous act of destroying his property. ¬" His killing the bleturs," said Cathmor, " was perhaps incorrect; but it is impossible below the Heavens to have unmixed blessings, and we must be contented to take every good with some alloy of evil. — Those animals, though they formerly infested the country, and still do a vast deal of mischief, are nevertheless bred and preserved at a very great expense for our sport, and you may guess how impossible it would be to live without them, when I inform ¬e 3 you ¬