382 NOTES ON FISH AND FISHING. 



thing away ; — it is a judgment ! No ; all is right again ; 

 the " die " as well as the line is cast ! 



A rise at once. A fish hooked ! A fish landed ! A two- 

 pound fish ! "What is it ? He had never dreamt of a 

 grayling, but a grayling it is. He knows it, though he 

 had never seen one before. It is in his pocket safe 

 and sound. But a hundred people, at least, have been 

 watching the proceeding. For to this number had a bad 

 conscience magnified a listless tramp and two small boys. 

 He cannot endure it. He is known. His friends will 

 hear of it. The very cathedral seems moving across the 

 meadows to him — the cathedral under one of the flag- 

 stones of which he remembers that the bones of old Isaak 

 Walton are lying. He has done an evil deed. He will 

 back again and make atonement. Eugene Aram was a 

 happy man and quite at his ease compared to him. The 

 people will be coming out of cathedral, church, and " places 

 of worship." He runs back to the hotel as if for dear life, 

 though sadly impeded by the grayling, which will get 

 between his legs as the deep pocket of his coat swaggles 

 about ; and the hidden rod works in all directions, as if 

 it were mischievously determined to impede him. At last 

 he is back at the hotel, and he has run the gauntlet of the 

 boots, chambermaids, waiters, and the landlady herself. 

 The grayling is wrapped up in a changed under garment, 

 and stowed away at the bottom of a capacious carpet-bag, 

 which is carefully locked. He cannot tell his friends 

 what is the matter with him, in answer to their inquiries. 

 Not a word as to the little but most painful episode as it 

 turned out. They know nothing of it to this day, and 

 unless they come across this little book, they never will. 



Years have passed by, but I shall never forget " my 



