176 AN ANGLER AT LARGE 



bank ! Them and their planks and their fishes 



with white marks and their dirty little twigs ! 



I tried in vain to point out that the twig in 

 question, being laved perpetually by the crystal 

 water of the fairest stream on earth, could not be 

 otherwise than spotless, but she would not hear 

 a word in defence of Chavender and Wickham. 

 She poured pitiless scorn upon their innocent 

 fishing talk the poor fellows. Nay, she parodied 

 it, exhibiting a knowledge of its character and a 

 keen appreciation of its possibilities in this direction 

 with which I could never have credited her. It 

 seems out of all reason that a woman who, up to a 

 few short weeks ago, had never so much as seen a 

 chalk-stream, should have gained such an insight 

 into the manner in which dry-fly anglers com- 

 municate with one another. 



True, I have seldom come in to a meal during 

 all our time here without giving her some little 

 account of my morning's sport, And whenever I 

 have had a fish to show, I have generally described 

 its situation, the state of the wind, the brightness 

 or dullness of the weather, and perhaps drawn a 

 diagram of the place showing the force and direc- 

 tion of the currents or the disposition of natural 

 obstacles to success. And I am not surprised 

 that she should be familiar with the names and 

 appearances of many of the commoner artificial 



