n to take
an interest, as the big trout came along in September, in the reports
of the catches made by the different anglers. She would saunter out with
the other people to the corner of the porch to see the fish weighed
and spread out on the grass. Several times she went with Beekman in the
canoe to Hardscrabble Point, and showed distinct evidences of pleasure
when he caught large trout. The last day of the season, when he returned
from a successful expedition to Roach River and Lily Bay, she inquired
with some particularity about the results of his sport; and in the
evening, as the company sat before the great open fire in the hall of
the hotel, she was heard to use this information with considerable skill
in putting down Mrs. Minot Peabody of Boston, who was recounting the
details of her husband's catch at Spencer Pond. Cornelia was not a
person to be contented with the back seat, even in fish-stories.

When Beekman observed these indications he was much encouraged, and
resolved to push his educational experiment briskly forward to his
customary goal of success.

"Some things can be done, as well as others," he said in his masterful
way, as three of us were walking home together after the autumnal dinner
of the Petrine Club, which he always attended as a graduate member. "A
real fisherman never gives up. I told you I'd make an angler out of
my wife; and so I will. It has been rather difficult. She is 'dour'
in rising. But she's beginning to take notice of the fly now. Give me
another season, and I'll have her landed."

Good old Beekman! Little did he think--But I must not interrupt the
story with moral reflections.

The preparations that he made for his final effort at conversion were
thorough and prudent. He had a private interview with Dewlap in regard
to the construction of a practical fishing-costume for a lady, which
resulted in something more reasonable and workmanlike than had ever been
turned out by that famous artist. He ordered from Hook and Catchett a
lady's angling-outfit of the most enticing description,--a split-bamboo
rod, light as a girl's wish, and strong as a matron's will; an oxidized
silver reel, with a monogram on one side, and a sapphire set in the
handle for good luck; a book of flies, of all sizes and colours, with
the correct names inscribed in gilt letters on each page. He surrounded
his favourite sport with an aureole of elegance and beauty. And then he
took Cornelia in September to the