The choice of the son
and heir was undisputed, and he proceeded to settle his possessions
in his new domains, where they made an imposing appearance.
CHAPTER IX--RATS
'As louder and louder, drawing near,
The gnawing of their teeth he could hear.'
SOUTHEY.
'What a ridiculous old fellow that Chapman is,' said Griff, coming
in from a conference with the gaunt old man who acted as keeper to
our not very extensive preserves. 'I told him to get some gins for
the rats in my rooms, and he shook his absurd head like any
mandarin, and said, "There baint no trap as will rid you of them
kind of varmint, sir."'
'Of course,' my father said, 'rats are part of the entail of an old
house. You may reckon on them.'
'Those rooms of yours are the very place for them,' added my mother.
'I only hope they will not infest the rest of the house.'
To which Griff rejoined that they perpetrated the most extraordinary
noises he had ever heard from rats, and told Emily she might be
thankful to him for taking those rooms, for she would have been
frightened out of her little wits. He meant, he said, to get a
little terrier, and have a thorough good rat hunt, at which Martyn
capered about in irrepressible ecstasy.
This, however, was deferred by the unwillingness of old Chapman, of
whom even Griff was somewhat in awe. His fame as a sportsman had to
be made, and he had had only such practice as could be attained by
shooting at a mark ever since he had been aware of his coming
greatness.
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