THE GEAYLING. 181 



excuse for not going to the cathedral, and he went not. 

 But, contrariwise, when his friends were safely within the 

 old Norman fane, he sallied forth with a cast of flies in 

 his hat, and his rod let down between the lining and 

 epidermis of his semi-greatcoat, through a slit made for 

 the occasion. Holding his trusty " Ohevallier " in posi- 

 tion as a poacher does his unjointed gun, with his hand 

 in the outside pocket, he sallied forth, with feelings akin 

 to those which a tender-hearted young cracksman, not 

 yet hardened to his work, may be supposed to entertain 

 when starting on his first "job " with all the paraphernalia 

 of his calling carefully secreted about his person. 



He stole timidly away from the hotel, not without a fear 

 that the " boots," or chambermaid, or the most respectable 

 landlady (if she had not gone to some "place of worship") 

 had " spotted him." Down the main street, and then to 

 the left down a bye street (this was a partial relief) ; but 

 he felt that everybody he met had a suspicion of him, 

 and there were more people looking out of windows with 

 upbraiding eyes than he thought could possibly be at 

 home on the Sabbath. At last he is in the meadows, and 

 eventually on a tow-path, as it seemed, and he breathes a 

 little more freely as he sees several sauntering Sabbath- 

 breakers dotted along it. Yet he has half a mind to relin- 

 quish his object; but a voice whispers in his ear that there 

 is no very great harm, now that he could not get to 

 church, in having a cast or two. Well, it should only be 

 one or two, and then he could get back in time for the 

 sermon ! With difficulty the rod is got out of its hiding- 

 place, with haste put together, and he is ready for the first 

 throw. The flies, however, get in a tangle, and catch in the 

 skirt of his coat. He will break them off ;— cut the whole 



