266 LINES IN PLEASANT PLACES 



County. The scenery here also was quite English, of 

 the pleasantest pastoral type ; for we were passing 

 through highly cultivated farms, in conditions of 

 agriculture that had not yet brought the owner and 

 cultivator of the soil under such a cloud of dismal 

 distress as we had experienced at home. A buggy 

 was waiting for us at the station, and we had a couple 

 of miles' drive, finished by turning out of the high 

 road and galloping down a sandy track, across a rustic 

 bridge, and through a charming plantation. 



On a knoll, surrounded by thickets just showing 

 leaf, stood a neat wooden structure with a veranda 

 running around it. A couple of setters and a pointer 

 in a kennel welcomed us by frantic barking, but for the 

 time that was the only sign or sound of life. We were 

 in a sylvan solitude, and somewhere near was heard the 

 musical flow of water through the tangled copse. The 

 good lady who had charge of the clubhouse eventually 

 came forward and read the letter which made me free 

 of the house. It was not, however, till dusk that her 

 husband, the bailiff, appeared, and we therefore had 

 no opportunity, as we had hoped to do, of any evening 

 fishing, but we had a hearty dinner, beautifully cooked 

 and prepared in one of the cosiest sportsman's retreats 

 I have ever entered. The woodwork of the interior 

 was beautifully finished and polished ; the furnishing 

 was just enough for comfort ; and the bracing air and 

 wafted murmurs that came to us, as we smoked our 

 pipes on the veranda, were most grateful. Mr. Harris 

 had kindly put into my hands a copy of his American 

 Anglfr y describing the birth of the club, which may be 

 taken to be a representative angling club for city 

 gentlemen in America. It was called the Quaspeake 

 Club, and the house was pitched close to the Demorest 

 brook. This was the water the music of which we had 



