credulously, stretching out
her hand to receive one of the hairy morsels on her palm, and bending
over it in unaffected admiration. "But how clever of you! How can you
have the patience? It must be dreadfully finicky work!"

"It is a trifle `finicky,' no doubt!" He laughed over the repetition of
the word. "But it's a refreshing change to work with one's hands
sometimes, instead of one's brain. Now shall I give you your first
lesson in the art? Don't imagine for a moment that fishing means
standing still for the hour together, with nothing more exciting than
the pulling-in of your fish the moment he bites. That's the idea of the
outsider who does not know what adventure he is losing, what hope and
suspense, what glorious triumph! Like most things, it's the struggle
that's the glory of the thing, not the prize. Shall I soak this cast
for you, and give you your first lesson?"

"Oh, please! I'd love it! It would be too kind of you!" cried Margot
eagerly. She had not the faintest idea what "soaking a cast" might
mean, and listened in bewilderment to a score of unfamiliar expressions;
but it is safe to affirm that she would have assented with equal fervour
to almost any proposition which her companion made.

There and then followed the first lesson on the seemingly easy, but in
reality difficult, task of "casting," the Editor illustrating his lesson
by easy, graceful throws, which Margot tried in vain to imitate. She
grew impatient, stamping her feet, and frowning fiercely with her dark
eyebrows, while he looked on with the amused indulgence which one
accords to a child.

"Are you always in such a hurry to accomplish a thing at once?"

"Yes, always! It's only when you don't care that you can afford to
wait."

"It sometimes saves time in the end to make haste slowly!"

"Oh, don't confound me with proverbs!" cried Margot, turning a flushed,
petulant face at him over her shoulder. "I know I am impetuous and
imprudent, but--the horrid thing _will_ twist up! Don't you think I
might have a demonstration this time? Let me watch, and pick up hints.
I'm sure I should learn more quickly that way, and it would be less
boring for you. Please!"

At that he took the rod, nothing loth, and Margot seated herself on the
ground, a trifle short of breath after her exertions, and not at all
sorry to have the chance of looking on while some one else did the work.
She was intently conscious of her companion's presence,