204 AN ANGLER'S HOURS xn 



hastened to exercise the judgement afore- 

 said. 



Itchen trout, I assured him, were not to 

 be caught in a day, even by Amaryllis. 

 Was he aware, I asked, that one of the most 

 noted experts living had only killed one 

 small fish during the whole of his first 

 season ? Did he think that his wife would 

 be willing to persevere at least as long ? I 

 put the case somewhat strongly, because I 

 had a vision of keeper Jobson's face when he 

 should come upon the wedded pair seated 

 side by side and dangling lobworms in a 

 hatch-hole. 



Fortunately William saw the point, and 

 was convinced that Amaryllis would require 

 more speedy success, and besides it was 

 salmon she wanted, not trout. He invited 

 other suggestions. I gave him some. I 

 told him what were the chances of a young 

 and uninfluential married couple in the 

 matter of salmon -angling. I forget now 

 what the figures were, but they roughly 

 represented a cost of from ten to a hundred 

 guineas per pound of fish, according to the 

 locality of the fishing, and they considerably 

 lengthened William's face. 



