ON THE FORDS OF TEME 111 
The grayling fishing was greatly enjoyed, and 
almost always at some time of the day—once it did 
not begin till so late as two o’clock in the after- 
noon—there would be a rise of fish. How good 
they were to eat! Of course all depends on their 
preparation in the kitchen, but there we could 
have perfect confidence. Hannah, the Welsh 
cook, was an expert. And the grayling were 
perfection. 
Here may be slipped in a little fragment from 
‘simple annals.” I happened not to be fishing 
one day, but in the afternoon went for a walk, a 
pleasure in itself in the Teme valley on a ripe 
autumn day. In due course I came to the river- 
side to see how the Major was getting on. He had 
done well during the rise, and got several beauti- 
ful fish. On our way, as we were walking back, 
we met a neighbour of an old couple who had 
lived long in a riverside cottage, near Newnham 
Bridge. The husband had kindly given the men 
from Deptford and Rotherhithe and myself some 
information one day about the water, and in a 
little homely chat had told us that “ his missus” 
was going to Kidderminster on the morrow for 
“a operation.” He was well over seventy years 
of age. Their cottage faced the field where we 
began our fishing on association water, or rather it 
was near where that length ended. When passing 
during the next few days we saw the cottage shut 
up, the wicket padlocked, and a basin of milk, 
with a cat companioning it, outside the cottage door 
—neighbourly kindness again. It was clear that 
