1 8 ARDENMOHR. 



" Agree, to be sure. But had we not better have 

 one bottle of Cliquot after the long walk? Fred, 

 you shall have a glass, as you had only a little 

 beer." 



"Not to-day, Major; but I'll drink a little sherry 

 and water when dinner is over, and go out for a 

 stroll by the burn." 



"Take Dick with you," said Ward. "When I 

 was last at Beechford with my aunt he harried the 

 river every spare hour, and got lots of chub, roach, 

 and such canaille." 



"Come, Hope Ward, don't disparage English 

 fish ; they are not much to eat, to be sure, but 

 they are ' some pumpkins ' to catch, I can tell you ; 

 and I know something of trout too." 



" Quite correct, Fred," I said. "When fishing the 

 river Welland, in Lincolnshire, I found that out. 

 It is one of these quiet canal-looking streams common 

 in England, but so pretty and pastoral, fringed with 

 sedge and drooping willows, and it literally swarms 

 with these ignoble fish, as Ward terms them. Yet 

 I found it very hard to kill the larger ones ; indeed, 

 had trout been as abundant, I should have basketed 

 any quantity." 



"Ah," said Fred, "I know that river. A school- 



