1 6 In Pursuit of the Trout 



fact, your everything. The quaint gabled 

 vicarage is there too, the church with its 

 fine Norman tower, and the churchyard 

 with aged, half-sunken tombstones, which 

 mark the dim resting-places of the once 

 dear departed. The trout-stream flows 

 through the hamlet, and boasts — or used to 

 — a mill-wheel, a few yards from the gate 

 of the manor-house. It was pleasant in the 

 long summer days, in the sensuous June 

 evenings, to lean restfully over the bridge 

 and watch the motion of the dripping wheel, 

 or go nearer and enjoy the aroma of the 

 pearly white grain, which covered the walls, 

 the floor of the mill, and the burly miller 

 himself. Glancing up from the water, one 

 could just see the top windows of the manor- 

 house over the great brick wall. As viewed 

 thus, the place looked the reverse of inviting. 

 Even in the height of summer, you would 

 scarcely have deemed it worthy a visit. 



Once inside the gate, I found the house, 

 outwardly at least, much as I had pictured 

 it ; plain to severity, and very Hanoverian. 



