14 AN ANGLER AT LARGE 



this essentially feminine touch. And when my 

 wife is on it, then and not till then do I feel that 

 the place begins to be habitable. Ask her if this 

 is not so. 



And I will work far into the night, long after 

 she has grown exhausted, carrying out her ex- 

 cellent suggestions, lugging great wardrobes across 

 and across the floor till they are in exactly the 

 situation to make right the new adjustment of the 

 large tables and the piano, if there is one. 



And I welcome every suggestion she makes 

 (from the couch that used to be a bed), because I 

 know her to have a sound instinct for placing 

 furniture. It is extraordinary how sound it is. 

 We always agree in the end. How lucky it is 

 that we should be married ! Supposing she had 

 wedded a man who detested this kind of hard 

 labour. An unfastidious man. A man such as I 

 used to be before I knew her. 



Just now, however, I am going to fish. 



The harp I will unpack and the harp -case I will 

 help the gardener to carry away. And I will swab 

 up the leakage of the Spanish Jug, and then I will 

 fish. 



For you are to know, sir, that I have not fished 

 in chalk water these three years. It is absolutely 

 necessary for me to angle. 



And you are also to know, sir (No, my wife, 



