he cried, "in the golden days thou wert ever fond of a goodly trout fresh caught and broiled upon a fire of" "Benedict!" cried the Abbess, and, all forgetful of his hurt, caught him by his wounded arm, "O Sir Benedict!"

The eager fisherman the fly for the trout.

Gay dwellings no longer are gay; The courtier, the gambler, the lover, Are scatter'd, like swallows, away: There's nobody left to invite one, Except my good uncle and spouse; My mistress is bathing at Brighton, My patron is sailing at Cowes: For want of a better employment, Till Ponto and Don can get out, I'll cultivate rural enjoyment, And angle immensely for trout.

I ketch wheens o' trout, too, from time to time; but I give yuh my word I never yet killed anything when the law was on it, never!" When Obed said a thing in his emphatic way, he was to be relied on, Max thought.

Then there's always the crick to git trout outen; and in a short time you could shoot pa'tridges without breakin' the game laws.

And say, Steve here could keep us supplied with trout galore, if only he fished from the bank, and didn't wade in.

"Eh? Why, one who was fishing in the neighborhood for trout, and staying at the hotel.

Stafford worked his fly steadily and systematically, with a light and long "cast" which had made him famous with the brethren of the craft, and presently he landed a glittering trout, which, though only a pound in weight, was valued by Stafford at many a pound in gold.

But Stafford was utterly indifferent to rain and mist while the trout were rising, and his basket was half full before he looked around him.

He forgot all about the big trout in the pool, and stood with his fly drifting aimlessly in the water, watching with something like breathless interest this, the most daring piece of horsemanship he had ever witnessed; and he had ridden side by side with the best steeplechaser of the day, and had watched a crack Hungarian cavalry corps at its manoeuvres; which last is about the top notch of the horse-riding business.

It was the faintest indication only of response to his salute; her eyes rested on his face with a strange, ungirlish calm, then wandered to the last trout which lay on the bank.

"Yes, you have done fairly well," she said; "but the trout run larger higher up the valley.

"You are going to tell me how you hooked a trout six foot in length, how it dragged you a mile and a half up the river, how you got it up to the bank, and how, just as you were landing it, it broke away and was lost.

" Stafford laughed with his usual appreciation of his friend's amusing cynicism; but he did not correct him; for at that moment, the neat maid-servant brought in the trout, which proved to be piping hot and of a golden-brown; and the two men commenced a dinner which, as compared with the famous, or infamous one, of the London restaurant, was Olympian.

"It does not matter," she said; "you were very kind in helping me with the lamb; and I ought to have told you that my father would be very glad if you would fish in the Heron; you will find some better trout higher up the valley.

There were ruffed grouse in the woods, in the creeks were speckled trout in abundance, and my friend rioted among them.

Even the creek was full of life, for there could be seen the movements of creeping things upon its bottom, while through the clear waters trout and minnow flashed brilliantly.

[Footnote: The lake is full of excellent salmon trout, and there is a small inn on its shores, where visitors can stop the night in summer.

None of us, however, were much in the style of the "melancholy Jacques," or, with our eyes on some vigorous fisherman higher up the river, we might have begun: "And yet it irks us, these bright speckled trout, Being native swimmers in this river, should From their own limpid pools, by gay, false flies Be cruelly decoyed.

A trout may be a flash of light in water, but on dry land he ain't worth a damn.

SEE Trout, Ethel Wendell.

TROUT, ETHEL WENDELL.

And here I baited my hook and cast out, so that the swirling water might carry my lure under the mill's foundations, where Ruyven said big, dusky trout most often lurked.

So when a sly trout snatched off my bait I was in no mood to cover my hook again, but set the rod on the rocks and let the bright current waft my line as it would, harmless now as the dusty alder leaves dimpling yonder ripple.

No, I don't want it, after all; let the trout swim in peace....