CLEAR WATERS 



he wrote at Ludlow. Throughout these forests 

 fallow deer have roamed in a wild state for generations, 

 and are accounted disfera natures. They are not very 

 often visible, and, of course, the woods are preserved 

 on other accounts, but the deer sometimes wander 

 at night or early morning on to the surrounding farms, 

 where they may, I believe, be lawfully shot by the 

 occupants. Hence my friend in the surprising char- 

 acter of a deer-stalker ! The end of the story up to 

 date of this singular couple must surely be told, as it 

 is a pleasant one. When next in Ludlow, two or 

 three years later, I lost no time in looking them up, 

 but encountered to my disappointment a strange face 

 at the door, and found that my friends had flitted, 

 to some place in the country, their successors believed, 

 but were vague as to locality. This was surely as it 

 should be, and eventually I tracked them down a mile 

 or two out of the town, in a roomy, picturesque 

 cottage on a by-lane at the edge of the big woods. 

 I think they were pleased to see me, and for their part 

 seemed at last in their true element, with twenty acres 

 of fine grass-land, a good garden and orchard, pigs, 

 poultry, a few beasts, and all the rest of it. Monsieur 

 was happy in recovered health, and madam had lost 

 none of hers, nor yet of her eloquence on things of 

 the open air. She had a cheerful, snug sitting-room 

 further embeUished with her nice old furniture, and 

 let it occasionally to a summer visitor in search of 

 quiet and a serene Arcadian atmosphere. 



I was talking not long ago to a land agent I hap- 

 pened to know who had just been appointed to the 

 charge of a great estate, which incidentally contained 

 152 



