A JOY DEFERRED 55 



it. He dashed the rod to the ground, he paced 

 up and down the bank like a man demented, he 

 shook his fist at the withies, he shook it at the 

 rushes, and kept shaking it till at length, after 

 having beaten a path on the turf, he had worked 

 off his rage. Then he sat down on the bank, 

 filled his pipe and blew clouds of smoke. The 

 tobacco had a soothing effect : soon he was 

 debating with himself whether to break the cast 

 or go and release the hook. He resolved to go 

 round, but first he would try to free it where he 

 sat. So he took up the rod, flicked the line, and 

 then, as bad luck would have it, the fiy came 

 away. Yes, it was bad luck, for few things 

 would have surprised and delighted the Squire 

 more than the sight of a hare, whom he must 

 have disturbed had he been compelled to go 

 round. He would have been thrilled by the 

 discovery that the hare was not, as he believed, 

 extinct on his land. But it was a joy postponed ; 

 he was to see the hare before the year was 

 out, in circumstances as different from those as 

 imagination can conceive. 



And meanwhile the hare, whose immunity 

 from molestation had been remarkable, was 

 destined to undergo a series of terrible trials, 

 the first of which, strangely enough, befell it 

 that very night. 



