56 MRS. TOWDIE AND THE COD. 



modern days will create into a concord. In the General's 

 pond was one salmon, who had not even the civility to 

 come and shake a fin with me as a sincere friend of his 

 family. He kept far away at the other end of the pond, 

 and I never saw him hut once. He seemed as black as 

 a rook, and as thin as a starved- out inhabitant of Metz. 

 No, it won't do to keep salmon in captivity. They are 

 wild animals, and must be as fi-ee as the red deer or the 

 eagle, or they will not prosper. The more I see of the 

 salmon, the more I acknowledge he is my master. 

 There is a certain divine afflatus about him, which 

 naturally leads men to do a great deal for his benefit, and 

 the more of this sort the better. No fish has ever had 

 more laws made about him than the salmon. I hope I 

 shall never hear a lawyer abuse a salmon ; this would 

 be base ingratitude. 



And now for a sad end to my tale. The General 

 kindly waited a very, very long time, while I was watch- 

 ing his fish. At last it began to get dark. He said : 

 " Buckland, we must go to dinner, but we will take a 

 cod-fish with us." Down the steps again came Mrs. 

 Towdie, with more mussels, and a great white iron cod 

 hook attached to the end of a line. As the General 

 supplies his table regularly from the pond, and as the 

 fish had to be slain as a matter of necessity, I was 

 obliged to stand by and see the execution. Mrs. Towdie 

 then artfully hooked out one of the biggest cod; the 

 poor thing took the mussel with a gulp. Alas ! for 

 feminine temptations ; who among us men has not been 

 treated like this poor cod ? His former protectress 

 pulled him out of the water in a moment, and he heaved 

 a heavy sigh as he flapped his tail for the last time. 

 We had this fish for dinner — I regret to say, without 

 shedding tears — and a splendid cod it was. 



