"Very. The situation is singularly pleasant."

"Yes, it is considered the prettiest spot on the brook-side, and used to
be a favourite resort for anglers; but the trout, I believe, are growing
scarce; at least, now that the fishing in the Thames is improved, poor
Mr. Jones complains that his old lodgers desert him. Of course you took
the rooms for the sake of the fishing. I hope the sport may be better
than it is said to be."

"It is of little consequence to me: I do not care much about fishing;
and since Miss Mordaunt calls the book which first enticed me to take
to it 'a cruel one,' I feel as if the trout had become as sacred as
crocodiles were to the ancient Egyptians."

"Lily is a foolish child on such matters. She cannot bear the thought of
giving pain to any dumb creature; and just before our garden there are a
few trout which she has tamed. They feed out of her hand; she is always
afraid they will wander away and get caught."

"But Mr. Melville is an angler?"

"Several years ago he would sometimes pretend to fish, but I believe
it was rather an excuse for lying on the grass and reading 'the cruel
book,' or perhaps, rather, for sketching. But now he is seldom here till
autumn, when it grows too cold for such amusement."

Here Sir Thomas's voice was so loudly raised that it stopped the
conversation between Kenelm and Mrs. Cameron. He had got into some
question of politics on which he and the vicar did not agree, and
the discussion threatened to become warm, when Mrs. Braefield, with
a woman's true tact, broached a new topic, in which Sir Thomas was
immediately interested, relating to the construction of a conservatory
for orchids that he meditated adding to his country-house, and in
which frequent appeal was made to Mrs. Cameron, who was considered an
accomplished florist, and who seemed at some time or other in her life
to have acquired a very intimate acquaintance with the costly family of
orchids.

When the ladies retired Kenelm found himself seated next to Mr. Emlyn,
who astounded him by a complimentary quotation from one of his own
Latin prize poems at the university, hoped he would make some stay at
Moleswich, told him of the principal places in the neighbourhood worth
visiting, and offered him the run of his library, which he flattered
himself was rather rich, both in the best editions of Greek and Latin
classics and in early English literature. Kenelm was much pleased with
the scholarly vicar, espec