CHAPTER XV 



HOME AT LAST. DONNINGTON PRIORY 



BREAKFAST is over, and it is time to feed the trout 

 which have gathered hungry and expectant just oppo- 

 site the bow-window of the drawing-room, where the 

 Lambourne flows clear and rapid over a bed of fine 

 gravel shining out brightly between masses of brilliant 

 green starwort, crowfoot, and water-celery. My wife 

 complains, not without some foundation, that visitors 

 who are slow at their meals run the risk of having 

 their plates snatched away and the toast-rack emptied, 

 before they have satisfied their hunger. Certainly 

 there are plenty of hungry mouths outside waiting to 

 be filled. A little concourse of robins, chaffinches, 

 blackbirds, thrushes, and impudent and irrepressible 

 sparrows, have gathered round the bird-table, and Mrs. 

 Wagtail, 



" The dainty-stepping duchess of the green," 



has temporarily deserted the numerous and clamor- 

 ous family in her nest in the Pyrus japonica against 

 the wall and, although insectivorous by nature, is as 

 ready for her share of crumbs as any of the party. 



Their wants are soon supplied, and it is but a step 

 to the water's edge. There a goodly number of fat 

 trout are waiting for their breakfast, and they fairly 

 jostle one another in their eagerness to swallow the 



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