ped out of the water; he did so, and caught it--the stone, not
the trout--and the hooks remained fixed in the slimy green moss.

Mr Sudberry scratched his head and felt inclined to stamp. He even
experienced a wild desire to cast his rod violently into the river, and
walk home with his hands in his pockets; but he restrained himself.
Pulling on the line somewhat recklessly, the hook came away, to his
immense delight, trailing a long thread of the green moss along with it.

Mr Sudberry now took to holding a muttered conversation with himself--a
practice which was by no means new to him, and in the course of which he
was wont to address himself in curiously disrespectful terms. "Come,
come, John, my boy, don't be cast down! Never say die! Hope, ay, hope
told a flatter--Hallo! was that a rise? No, it must have been another
of these--what can be the matter with your skin to-day, John? I don't
believe it's the sun, after all. The sun never drove anyone frantic.
Never mind; cheer up, old cock! That seems a very likely hole--a
beautiful--beau-ti--steady! That was a good cast--the best you've made
to-day, my buck; try it again--ha! s-s-us! caught again, as I'm a
Dutchman. This is too bad. Really, you know--well, you've come off
easier than might have been expected. Now then, softly. What _can_ be
the matter with your face?--surely--it cannot be," (Mr Sudberry's heart
palpitated as he thought), "the _measles_! Oh! impossible, pooh! pooh!
you had the measles when you were a baby, of course--d'ye know, John,
you're not quite sure of that. Fevers, too, occasionally come on with
extreme--dear me, how hot it is, and what a time you have been fishing,
you stupid fellow, without a rise! It must be getting late."

Mr Sudberry stopped with a startled look as he said this. He glanced
at the sun, pulled out his watch, gazed at it with unutterable surprise,
put it to his ear, and groaned.

"Too late! half-past five; dinner at five--punctually! Oh! Mary, Mary,
won't I catch it to-night!"

A cloud passed over the sun as he spoke. Being very susceptible to
outward influences, the gloom of the shadow descended on his spirits as
well as his person, and for the first time that day a look of deep
dejection overspread his countenance.

Suddenly there was a violent twitch at the end of the rod, the reel spun
round with a sharp whirr-r, and every nerve in Mr Sudberry's system
received an electric shock as he bent forward, str