r when he expected and liked you to be
opinionated also. He was a dangerous man to tackle in argument if your
knowledge of the subject was rickety. He was emphatically what is
termed a well-informed man, for that thoroughness of his stamped his
knowledge, and ruled his memory. You might not always agree with him,
but could seldom floor him, the ground he stood upon being rock-solid.
As both a giver and taker of chaff he was an adept. He had the courage
of his opinions, and none wiser than he when it was best to keep
opinions an unknown quantity. In travelling or by the waterside he was
wonderfully helpful if help was good for you--perhaps, if anything, too
helpful, though I cannot conceive a more pardonable fault than that.
Aye, Halford was verily a fine fellow.

An important note to register in thinking of Halford is that he was one
upon whom fortune smiled. That makes a vast difference probably in the
shape a man will assume as he gets over the dividing range and goes
down the other side towards the cold river. In this respect, H. had
every reason to be grateful for blessings bestowed, and freely said so.
He had, of course, his ups and downs, and his part in life's battle;
but while still in the prime of life he had, so far as one could see,
achieved all that a reasonable man could desire. He could go from a
happy home in the West End to his club; as, per wish or mood, could
wander on Swiss mountains or by Italian lakes; and, above everything,
could have and hold his choice bit of fishing. In his younger days he
was a great opera-goer, and never lost his fondness for music; he was
an officer in the City Artillery Volunteers, and was thorough in that,
and there is a silver cup that notifies his prowess at the rifle butts.

Need it be said that Halford's ante-chamber to paradise was his
fisheries? He was not himself a hard fisher, being content with two or
three hours in the forenoon (ten to one, as a rule) and the evening
rise. It might be wondered how the time could be passed in that case.
There need not be wonderment. He was not under the necessity, like so
many of us, of crowding a maximum of fishing into a minimum of time.
His fishing visits signified taking quarters and fishing the season
through, a succession of friends sharing the pleasure. The host would
be looking patiently after his water, collecting insects, carrying out
experiments, making notes, concerning himself with banks and
weeds--fillin