24 AN ANGLER'S HOURS n 



the little Berkshire trout stream, to which 

 I have so far rather vaguely alluded as 

 " there," and in a few hours was standing 

 by its side waving a particularly vivid 

 " fancy " to and fro in the air, and nursing 

 the unconquerable hope with great affection. 



On the day of my arrival the trout rose, 

 and I forgot all about keeping down the 

 grayling, though I could see them in the 

 water, and realised that the expert had not 

 overstated their numbers or exaggerated 

 their size more than is pardonable. In the 

 evening, therefore, I found that I was short 

 of the day's total of five brace by the total 

 itself, though I had not done badly with the 

 trout. I determined that this must not 

 occur again ; I had come down to catch 

 grayling, and not trout, and grayling should 

 be caught. 



Yet, such is the value of good resolutions, 

 the second day saw me again fishing assidu- 

 ously for trout, which, by the way, seemed 

 to like the gaudy fancies and terrors used as 

 a kind of compromise with conscience ; if I 

 was not definitely fishing for grayling I was at 

 least using grayling flies. And so the evening 

 again came, bringing a deficit of five brace. 



