brim. It was a costume that,
with all its oddity, seemed wonderfully fit and familiar. And the
face? Certainly it was the face of an old friend. Never had I seen a
countenance of more quietness and kindliness and twinkling good humour.

"Well met, sir, and a pleasant day to you," cried the angler, as his
eyes lighted on me. "Look you, I have hold of a good fish; I pray you
put that net under him, and touch not my line, for if you do, then we
break all. Well done, sir; I thank you. Now we have him safely landed.
Truly this is a lovely one; the best that I have taken in these waters.
See how the belly shines, here as yellow as a marsh-marigold, and there
as white as a foam-flower. Is not the hand of Divine Wisdom as skilful
in the colouring of a fish as in the painting of the manifold blossoms
that sweeten these wild forests?"

"Indeed it is," said I, "and this is the biggest trout that I have seen
caught in the upper waters of the Neversink. It is certainly eighteen
inches long, and should weigh close upon two pounds and a half."

"More than that," he answered, "if I mistake not. But I observe that you
call it a trout. To my mind, it seems more like a char, as do all the
fish that I have caught in your stream. Look here upon these curious
water-markings that run through the dark green of the back, and these
enamellings of blue and gold upon the side. Note, moreover, how bright
and how many are the red spots, and how each one of them is encircled
with a ring of purple. Truly it is a fish of rare beauty, and of high
esteem with persons of note. I would gladly know if it he as good to the
taste as I have heard it reputed."

"It is even better," I replied; "as you shall find, if you will but try
it."

Then a curious impulse came to me, to which I yielded with as little
hesitation or misgiving, at the time, as if it were the most natural
thing in the world.

"You seem a stranger in this part of the country, sir," said I; "but
unless I am mistaken you are no stranger to me. Did you not use to go
a-fishing in the New River, with honest Nat. and R. Roe, many years ago?
And did they not call you Izaak Walton?"

His eyes smiled pleasantly at me and a little curve of merriment played
around his lips. "It is a secret which I thought not to have been
discovered here," he said; "but since you have lit upon it, I will not
deny it."

Now how it came to pass that I was not astonished nor dismayed at this,
I cannot explain. But