re was
nothing but a wandering sheep-path here and there, and the mountain was
by no means as easy to descend as the classic Avernus; so that when he
got to the bottom and came in sight of the little inn nestling in a
crook of the valley he was both tired and hungry. Howard, beautiful in
evening-dress, came sauntering to the door with his long white hands in
his pocket and a plaintive reproach on his Vandyke face.

"I was just about to send off the search party, my dear Stafford," he
said. "Is it possible that you have just come down that hill? Good
heavens! What follies are committed in thy name, O Sport! And of course
there are no fish--there never are! The water is always too thin or too
thick, the sky too bright or too dull, the wind too high or too low.
Excuses are the badge of all the angling tribe."

Stafford took his basket from his shoulder and made a pretence of
slinging it at Howard's head; then tossed it to the landlord, who stood
by, smiling obsequiously.

"Cook some of 'em as soon as you can," he said; then he followed the
neat and also smiling chamber-maid up to his room, where, for all his
pretended indolence and cynicism, Howard had caused his friend's things
to be laid out in readiness for him. Stafford dressed slowly, smoking a
cigarette during the operation, and still thinking of the strange
"farmer's daughter." And then he went down and joined Howard in the
room he had ordered.

Lake hotels may lack the splendour to which we are all growing
accustomed, and of which, alas! we are also growing rather wearied, but
they are most of them extremely comfortable and cosy; and The Woodman
at Carysford was no exception to the rule. Stafford looked round the
low-pitched room, with its old-fashioned furniture, its white
dinner-cloth gleaming softly in the sunset and the fire-light, and
sighed with a nod of satisfaction.

"This is something like, eh, old man?" he said; and even Howard deigned
to nod approvingly.

"Yes," he said. "If anything could compensate one for the miseries of
travel, especially that awful drive, this should do so. I confess I had
looked forward to a crowning discomfort in the shape of a cold and
draughty and smelly room, fried chops or a gory leg of mutton and a
heel of the cheese made by Noah in the Ark. I fancy that we are going
to have a decent dinner; and I trust I may not be disappointed, for it
is about the only thing that will save my life. Are you dry yet? You
looked as if