146 In Pursuit of the Trout 



monly be straying — to the detriment of busi- 

 ness — to my ideal stream. I call it ideal, 

 because I can never hope to angle in it ; it is 

 perfectly inaccessible to me, and indeed, as 

 I have always understood from various in- 

 quiries, to the rest of the angling world. 

 There is only a record of one person fishing 

 there, and I have never been able to satisfy 

 myself that he actually did so, though 

 the villagers have a story to that effect. 

 They also say that once a year the staiF of 

 servants employed by the absent owner of 

 the stream and the mansion hard by are 

 allowed a day and whatever baits they choose 

 in may-fly time ^ but this story is getting 

 more and more into disrepute, for nobody 

 has ever been seen straying along the green 

 velvet banks of that stream w^ith a rod in his 

 or her hand, — and this goes far to disprove 

 the alleged permission to angle once a year 

 accorded to one man — the parish pastor — 

 and a staff of servants. 



What is there so wonderful in this stretch 

 of water ? Why, simply this, that it is the 



