HOOKED FOUL. 225 



" 'The fact is/ she said, ' I don't forget what that young 

 gentleman so sensibly remarked : " A fish hooked foul has 

 a very good chance of shaking itself free." ' 



"From that moment Sarah Graham devoted herself to 

 the task of shaking herself free : she considered she was 

 'hooked foul.' From that moment Harold Graham gave 

 himself up to revenge. There was one slight difficulty to 

 be overcome, viz., his ignorance of my name, address, and 

 station. It took him months to get over it. He spent a 

 little fortune, they say, in journeys to London, hoping to 

 meet me by accident. Finally he sought Lord Garstanger, 

 and pretending I had lent him a flask, or winch, or cigar- 

 case, or something which he wished to return, found out 

 my whereabouts. He had, in some inconceivable manner, 

 stumbled upon the notion that I was in communication 

 with his cousin, and that I was supplanting him. She 

 herself rather encouraged the idea to spite him, and by- 

 and-by his hatred of me became a mania. 



"Shall I detain you much longer? No. I have placed 

 the ends of the skein in your hands : it is for you to gather 

 them up. Harold Graham was a poor weak creature ; he 

 was never known to display energy before the interval 

 between our day at Garstanger Park and the athletic 

 exercise he and I took in my sitting-room, and since then 

 he has subsided into a sort of amateur idiocy. 



"And now you ask me whether I do not consider 

 Sarah Graham a very objectionable young woman? In 

 confidence, I assure you I do not. I take your vehement 

 affirmation of a contrary opinion as a sign of profound 

 insight into human character, my young friend. Don't be 

 angry with me, if I suggest we should agree to diifer. 



Q 



