larvae, forsooth, when he ought to be
a-fishing of men) may be reckoned at very little change out of a bank
note--for cousin. It is true that this is a minor matter, and in a
measure a somewhat sordid consideration. Also, I am anticipating a
little. Perhaps I ought to have at once made it clear that the really
practical issue of the aforesaid was an insistence on the part of the
girls that they should be taught fly fishing, and equipped with the
correct "things" (their expression not mine), for a new diversion; it
must be done immediately, expense not to be considered. The vicar was
strong as to the hang-the-cost doctrine, and this he said knowing that
cousin would see his ten-pound note no more for ever. Perhaps the
reader will comprehend why cousin was passing sore; he paid the piper,
and the vicar evidently meant to dance to the tune. In plain phrase,
he undertook, if cousin would drill them sufficiently into the
mysteries of fly fishing, to lead them into action in earnest during
the approaching Mayfly time. Wherefore cousin fitted them out with
rods, winches, lines, casts, and flies. But he drew the line at
waders, as not being in the department of a mere he-cousin.

With curious indiscretion he brought home a tackle-maker's catalogue,
with the "things" which he considered generously requisite. Then the
girls consulted the pamphlet, and, backed of course by the vicar,
insisted that a silver spring balance in morocco case (to weigh up to
or down from 4 lb.), an oil bottle for odourless paraffin, and other
small trifles were needful. Cousin gave them all credit for gratitude
evinced after his second trip to town, and any reader must give him
credit for the honest pleasure that was his recompense. They were
satisfied for the time being, as the reader will readily understand.
"A very neat little rig-out indeed, my dear," said B. to L., the vicar
corroborating like the sound of a small amen. For a while the donor
resolutely declined to buy split-cane rods, deeming high-class
greenhearts sufficient for beginners, though the vicar argued that it
was always wise in tuition to begin as you intend to proceed. This
casuistry cousin heeded not.

"Very well, my dear fellow," he said airily, "you know best. We shall
have the Mayfly up in about a month; the girls will know how to use a
rod by then, and you'll simply have to buy split canes after all.
_You_ use a split cane, _I_ use a split cane, and you must be
de