NATURE NEAR LONDON s= 



verge of the grass and the stream. The sunshine 

 reflected from the ripples on this, the southern side, 

 continually ran with a swift, trembling motion up 

 the arch. 



Penetrating the clear water, the light revealed the 

 tiniest stone at the bottom ; but there was no fish, 

 no water-rat, or moorhen on this side. Neither 

 on that nor many succeeding mornings could any- 

 thing be seen there ; the tail of the arch was 

 evidently the favourite spot. Carefully looking 

 over that side again, the moorhen who had been 

 out rushed back ; the water-rat was gone. Were 

 there any fish ? In the shadow the water was 

 difficult to see through, and the brown scum of 

 spring that lined the bottom rendered everything 

 uncertain. 



By gazing steadily at a stone my eyes presently 

 became accustomed to the peculiar light, the pupils 

 adjusted themselves to it, and the brown tints 

 became more distinctly defined. Then sweeping 

 by degrees from a stone to another, and from 

 thence to a rotting stick embedded in the sand, 

 I searched the bottom inch by inch. If you look, 

 as it were, at large at everything at once you 

 see nothing. If you take some object as a fixed 

 point, gaze all around it, and then move to another, 

 nothing can escape. 



Even the deepest, darkest water (not, of course, 

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