eath the clear
water, it sent interlacing lines of gold chasing one another across the
brown sand and shingle of the shallows; and if the cloudless sky
overhead compelled this unwilling idleness, it also touched each of
those dancing ripples with a gleam of most brilliant blue. Farther out
those scattered blue gleams became concentrated until they formed glassy
sweeps of intensest azure where the deep pools were; and these again
gave way to the broken water under the opposite bank, where the
swift-running current reflected the golden-green of the overhanging
bushes and weeds. Where was the call for any speech between these two?
When, at length, Robert admonished the young man to get ready, because a
cloud was coming over, and this part of the Aivron had to be waded,
Lionel got up with no great good-will; that silent companionship, in the
gracious stillness and soothing murmur of the stream, seemed to him to
be more profitable to the soul than the lashing of a wide pool with a
seventeen-foot rod.

But he buckled to his task like a man; and as he could wade a good
distance in, there was no need for him to attempt a long line.
Surreptitiously, on many occasions, he had been getting lessons from old
Robert; and now, if his casting was not professional in its length, it
was at least clean. Moreover, by this time he had learned that the
expectant moment in salmon-fishing is not when the fly lights away over
at the other side and begins to sweep round in a semicircle, but when it
drags in the current before it is withdrawn; and he was in no haste in
recovering.

"Why, Mr. Moore, you are casting beautifully," Miss Honnor Cunyngham
called to him; and the words were sweet music to his ears, for it may be
frankly admitted that this somewhat sensitive novice was playing to the
gallery. His diligent and careful thrashing, however, was of no avail.
He could not stir anything; and as in time the deepening water drove him
ashore, he willingly surrendered his rod to his fair companion, who
could now fish from the bank.

Then he sat down to watch--and to dream. He could see that she was
getting out more and more line, and throwing beautifully; but he had
persuaded himself (or thought he had persuaded himself) into the belief
that the singular and constant charm of this river had no association
with her, or with the quiet hours these two had passed there together.
It was the stream talking to him that had fascinated him as he sat idly