76 NATVRE NEAR LONDON. 



not see the bottom there for the shadow, or if the 

 summer noonday cast a strong beam even then it 

 seemed to cover the surface of the water with a film 

 of light which could not be seen through. There are 

 some aspects from which even a picture hung on the 

 wall close at hand cannot be seen. So no one saw 

 the trout; if any one more curious leant over the 

 parapet he was gone in a moment under the arch. 



Folk fished in the pond about the verge of which 

 the sedge-birds chattered, and but a few yards distant ; 

 but they never looked under the arch on the northern 

 and shadowy side, where the water flowed beside the 

 beech. For three seasons this continued. For three 

 summers I had the pleasure to see the trout day after 

 day whenever I walked that way, and all that time, 

 with fishermen close at hand, he escaped notice, 

 though the place was not preserved. It is wonderful 

 to think how difficult it is to see anything under one's 

 very eyes, and thousands of people walked actually 

 and physically right over the fish. 



However, one morning in the third summer, I 

 found a fisherman standing in the road and fishing 

 over the parapet in the shadowy water. But he was 

 fishing at the wrong arch, and only with paste for 

 roach. While the man stood there fishing, along 

 came two navvies ; naturally enough they went quietly 

 up to see what the fisherman was doing, and one 

 instantly uttered an exclamation. He had seen the 

 trout. The man who was fishing with paste had 

 stood so still and patient that the trout, re-assured, 

 had come out, and the navvy — trust a navvy to see 

 anything of the kind — caught sight of him. 



