DAYS STOLEN FOR SPORT 75 



she is sure she should never learn which way to turn 

 his winch, so no wonder that when sporting instincts 

 moved her she should come to fish with mine again. 

 I cannot portray her pretty face and pretty way when 

 giving her command with tutored voice and gesture : — 



Give me mine angle. We'll to the river. There 

 My music placing far off, I will betray 

 Tawny-fiinned fishes; m^'^ bended hooks shall pierce 

 Their slimy jaws : and as I draw them up 

 I'll think them every one an Antony 

 And say, 'Ah, Ah ! you're caught.' 



There was grace in her every movement; even 

 the strike in response to the disappearing float was 

 as if her wrist were trained, and the skill of playing 

 what she hooked was all her own. Mrs Ted is a real 

 talker, and for half an hour or m.ore on this occasion 

 the matter of her conversation and the music of her 

 voice, together with her pretty attitudes, were most 

 fascinating, but, strange to say, it suddenly/ came to 

 both of us to be dodging for a chance to get a look to 

 where Ted should be a-fishing. No male can .ever hope 

 to attain to the advantages that females enjoy in the 

 matter of seeing perfecth^ over either shoulder without 

 visible movement of their head or even the pupils of 

 their eyes. 



Fickle Ted, who had left his rod to do the fishing, 

 was face to face with my little woman, to whom he 

 talked with tongue and arms with such eloquence 

 and wit that she laughed so loudly that we could 

 hear her, far as we were away; and we saw her step 

 back a httle to encourage Ted to use his arms as he 

 loves to do when in full s^ving with merry talk. 'Ted 

 calls that fishing,' said Mrs Ted, addressing me in 

 a tone that appeared somewhat changed; so, in reply, 

 I told her that Ted had one eye upon his float and was 

 really fishing, but what more I had to say of his clever- 

 ness was cut short by the departure of my companion 

 Ted-wards. 



