164 TROUT FISHING 



the subject, and asked whether he had 

 taken any steps concerning the seat 

 in Parliament towards which I had long 

 been urging him. He invited me to 

 lunch at his house three days thence, as 

 of yore, and went his way. Before I 

 reached my destination, not more than 

 two hundred yards off, the strange an- 

 nouncements were repeatedly insisted on. 



Lord A O and his rival in 



foreign travel and adventure Mr. T 



C positively assured me that there 



was air ; and just as I was turning to the 



steps of the Club, Mr. M W 



thrust his beaming countenance out of a 

 hansom cabriolet, and shouted the tidings 

 that she bumped. " O, Monty, kindly 

 go to the devil ! " I implored, entering the 

 stately asylum. It turned out to be an 

 asylum in more than one sense. Old 

 habit led my footsteps towards the round 

 table in a corner of the coflFee-room, and, 

 seeing welcoming faces there, I sat down 

 for luncheon at the accustomed place. 

 The talk was about politics, and much of 



