Saki, 'The Brogue'

[fiefoe]

It's a gratifying surprise to find this short story by H. H. (Saki) Munro online. (via)

• It had been rechristened the Brogue later on, in recognition of the fact that, once acquired, it was extremely difficult to get rid of.
• The Brogue had been variously described in sale catalogues as a light-weight hunter, a lady's hack, and, more simply, but still with a touch of imagination, as a useful brown gelding, standing 15.1.
• He broke out into unstinted congratulation.
• "It's all right about the proposal," she announced, 'he came out with it at the sixth hole. I said I must have time to think it over. I accepted him at the seventh."
  "My dear," said her mother, "I think a little more maidenly reserve and hesitation would have been advisable, as you've known him so short a time. You might have waited till the ninth hole."