144 THE TROUT ARE RISING 
fly-fishers, who, after a day in pursuit of trout or 
grayling, at night gather in “slippered ease” in 
the smoking room of the inn, fighting the day’s 
battles over again, or prophesying good things for 
the morrow. In this company I am at home. 
It is the business of the host and his spouse 
to make their guests comfortable, and for the most 
part they succeed. The born landlord and land- 
lady somehow manage to convey to each man a 
satisfying feeling that he is a specially welcome 
visitor under their roof. The guest who always 
feels happy as he enters his favourite inn may 
perhaps find a personal application of the 
camaraderie which breathes through the lines of 
the old toast— 
“¢ Come in the evening, or come in the morning— 
Come when you're looked for, or come without warning, 
A thousand welcomes you’ll find here before you, 
And the oftener you come here the more we'll adore you !” 
Angler-guests, in their whole-time capacity as 
anglers, are as a fact warmly welcome at the hotel. 
Often this is so for their own sakes and person- 
alities, but I have not been able to resist a suspicion 
that part of their popularity is due to the 
fact that they are generally out all day! Once 
this was charmingly confirmed, One morning, 
after the usual large packets of sandwiches in their 
crinkly paper had been made up and duly appro- 
priated, and all the anglers were supposed to have 
departed to the waterside and in fact by now to 
be busy at it, one angler, having forgotten some- 
thing or other, returned to the hotel. He met 
