160 In Pursuit of the Trout 



Well, never mind the dinner. The steak 

 can be kept hot somehow, and as for pudding, 

 why, did not Shelley say that pudding was 

 a prejudice ? I have often, when angling, 

 failed to get back in time for dinner, and have 

 never regretted it. 



In this evening time the Clear has wondrous 

 beauties unknown to those who only see her 

 crystalline streams by broad daylight ; while 

 a certain mystery lurks in her deeper pools 

 and oily-looking swirls among the rough old 

 willow-trees. If a trout be found moving 

 here now, it will take much to convince 

 you that it is not a very big fellow indeed. 

 It is possible that in the deep backwater at 

 Wild Duck Corner — they say it is as much 

 in low water as seventeen feet — you will 

 come upon and slay the traditional eight- 

 pounder of the Clear. He was seen moving 

 last year on just such another evening, taking 

 everything he could find at the surface of the 

 great black pool ; the water-keeper watched 

 him for some time, and was convinced he 

 would have taken at once had there been 



