OF GRAYLINGS, LARGE AND SMALL 239 



In the run which she infests there is a tremen- 

 dous trout. He is always there. I cannot drive 

 him away. He is that kind of trout. Now and 

 then he takes a fly. He never takes mine. That 

 is the sort of trout he is. He amuses himself at 

 my expense. 



Very well. 



I arrive within casting distance of this humorist. 

 I cast. The little grayling hurls herself upon my 

 fly. She is without reverence or fear. The great 

 trout cannot inspire her with awe. The smack of 

 my fly upon the water cannot alarm her. Because 

 I am half blind and hope that the trout has risen, 

 I strike, and the little grayling is somewhere in the 

 meadow. 1 detach her from my hook with infinite 

 trouble, place her in the water and cast again. 

 The little grayling is already waiting to receive 

 my fly. 



I fancy that she is subsidised by the trout to 

 annoy me. 



You have no conception of the irritation that 

 this little grayling causes me. 



To-morrow I shall torture her. 



Generally, then, of these little graylings, I will 

 say this. They are the most contemptible of fishes. 

 They are deceivers, raisers of false hopes, liars. 



