PROLOGUE 



B.E.F., France, 

 1918. 



To-DAY I have fished again in France ! 



Oh ! hut that sunlit hour was wonderful ! 

 Only those who have endured these weary 

 times will fully understand — to find forget- 

 fulness ! And I had found much more — 

 a wealth of old attachment^ the mystery of 

 the river, keen scents^ soft well-reme?nhered 

 sounds, clean sunlight and the greenness of 

 the valley, even a friendly miller^ quite like a 

 Breton, save that he did not wear a heaver 

 hat — such a good fellow too, kindly, gesticu- 

 lating, uttering the strange new language of 

 these times : " No ton " this pool ; I must 

 come down and fish his meadow ; that sign- 

 ix 



