DICK'S IDYL.

Press, Volume XLV, Issue 7142, 1 September 1888, Page 3

DICK'S IDYL.

By S. ClemeNT Sotham. It may have been a tendency to the gout of his forefathers, or that the human liver will rebel under too long a course of devilled kidneys and moning "splits," or even the laying of ten to one on a certainty and seeing him hopelessly in difficulties a long way from his home, but Dick Tyler, as he drove back on the Oaks Day, felt life was very sad. The forced mirth of Bob Staples, of the same regiment, found no sympathetic echo in his breast. Life was dull, dull as yesterday's soda water. Not-bi-ig could turn the jaundice— yellow from Dick's eyes when he returned to duty: the inspection of kits led to smothered expletives which he dared not vent, morning parades were morning purgatories, and even the adjutant, best of good fellows, at last told him that the longer leave he took the better he would be pleased. Not that Lieutenant Richard Tyler ever did shirk his work ; on the contrary, it was always accurate and trustworthy, but the cheery chirrup of bis old manner seemed giving place to a slow heaviness which sat but badly on that round-faced, curley-haired subaltern. And then the climax came in a very unexpected and undesired marriage ot a near relation. So Dick bethought himself of a far-away i cousin deep in the country, and receiving a hearty answer to his letter, obtained leave and fled there promptly, awakening to some of his old manner on arrival, going thoroughly through the stables, and producing a most charming affection in the hearts of all the dogs. He was one of those who fall naturally into the position of idols to that most cheery and sociable of beings —the country-house foxterrier, but even these overtures to friendship could not win him from himself, and the next day he began to relapse into boredom and to seek refuge in the pernicious habit of smoking the strongest pipe in the service (and that is saying a good deal) from the time of his morning tub to that of his nocturnal whiskey, with intervals for his meals, His cousin was a sturdy old squire, whose red face and white whiskers were well known after the hounds, but whose summer amusements were of a somewhat limited description. He took great interest in agriculture, which Dick detested, and, as he and his pleasant-faced wife had no family, Dick's ennui threatened to become a tower that would topple over and overwhelm him beyond redemption. He was thinking, on the third day of his visit' (jhat he would do well to flee from this placid pastoral to more stirring climes, when this isolated representative of Her Majesty's army happened to turn listlessly over some odds and ends of tbe old gun- | room, and came across a fly-rod in a tolerable state of preservation. The rod, in- ! deed, was scarcely " tolerable," but it inStantly woke into life all the old instincts of a boyhood spent on the banks of a broad and welt-known trout stream, when one of his greatest pleasures consisted of laying the speckled beauties side by side on the grass after a good day in the water, every hole and hiding place of which was known to him thoroughly. Now he had not cast a fly for some years, but all the Walton in him sprang into life in a moment. So the old rod was dragged out, the loose and unstable ferrules were fitted and tightened, some silk and cobbler's wax were unearthed and the links retied, and a dusty and battered old book, with the rusty brown impression of many a longsheltered hook, duly inspected. As might be expected, the choice of flies was not great, and many, tempting in appearance in spite of their fadedlook, parted company, upon the slightest encouragement, with the gut on which they were tied. How. ever, a few faithful oues were found out of a heterogeneous mass tumbled out on the table, and also a sufficient quantity of gut, which, after a good soaking, was | found equal to bear the strain. The reel rattled and groaned, a very Jeremiah of a reel, and the # line was not, I fear, one to trust to boldly and haul on fearlessly. However, Dick's fishing inclinations were all in arms, and nothing could baulk them; so, at last, he collected sufficient tackle to make an essay, and shouldering his rod. he marched off through the grassfleld 3 rippling in the gentle southerly wind, in the direction of a somewhat narrow brook which lay nearly a mile from the Hall. It .was a perfect fishing day; a gentle shower had fallen in the mornfng, and now, with the heat of the sun subdued by fleecy clouds, a soft breeze dappled the shadows of the alders, and drove the trout mad for the plump caterpillars and juicy ephemree that dropped over their noses as they lay under the gnarled roots of great trees, or just where the swirl rounded into the eddy. Dick's old fishing instincts made him feel, as all who have ever loved a trout rod inU3t feel intuitively, that the day was essentially a good one, and the heavy " blob" of a big fellow, who sucked in a red spinner just above where he walked into the water, was an excellent spur to prick the sides of his intent. The beginning of the work was fairly open, and Dick, although "rusty" from want of practice, worked away like an enthusiast, making, it must be confessed, about one really good throw in five, and not unfrequentiy bringing his line back in one of those apparently hopeless tangles which to all appearances would take three weeks to undo, but which a simple pulling out will frequently unravel. He had, it is true, left one or two of his flies iin good lofty trees, and one had parted company with that ill-omened crack which i warns the tiro that his tail-fly has sailed off behind him on its own account, but ■ still he had managed to grass half a dozen ' of plump and mottled trout, and his ennui knew him no more. The trees and undergrowth thickened here, and arched nearly over the brook before him, and it was but natural that he should pause awhile to rest and sit upon a twisted clump of roots, green with moss, before he penetrated into these leafy recesses, filled with changing ahadows and slumbrous, ceaseless water music.

The broad green boughs of the hazels gently waved in a rhythmic measure, moved by a breeze so soft as to be little more than a breath : flocks of foam, bright with iridescent bubbles, circled and eddied where the water sprang, a broad gush of light, between two red blocks of sandstone patched with dark moss; a waterhen, roused from her nest, went bustling up the aisle of green, where the pale under-colour of the young oak-leave s stood out clearly from the deeper foliage of the other trees. At his feet was a large clump of forget-me-nots; above him the song of a — k—a tiny black speck against the dappled sky. I cannot say that an ardent admiration of Nature is a weak point in the character of the ordinary British subaltern, or that I have come across many who will leave the post-mess cigar to gaze upon the moon or babble or Tennyson (unless their com. panious wear different garments from scarlet shell-jackets); but Scottish Jamie's well-oiled " Boots " would not wring from mc the number which figured on Lieutenant Tyler's forage cap. I do not know that even he got further in his criticism than that it was " deuced pretty," or that he had any longing for a pen with which to write down burning thoughts. I do know that he promptly brought forth the blackened and malodorous pipe, and that he trammed it with tobacco and sent up rings of blue smoke through the twisted branches. Perhaps this was his way of burning incense; perhaps it was not; I can safely say that, for those few minute s he rested, our friend felt the world was good and life was not an evil. Then he arose and pressed forward once again. Anyone who had seen Dick a day or two back—his eyes dull and heavy, his step languid, and his "military chest" quite disfigured—would hardly have recognised him in the intent and keen-eyed sports, man who now entered the thick, over, grown part of the brook where, beneath the mossy stones and the brambled banks the big trout lurked and fed. And now it seemed to the fisherman that all his troubles began in earnest. The shelving rocks were slippery to his feet, the brambles took him affectionately round the neck or lifted his hat off, that sweet and companionable creature the horse-fly wanted to chum with him, and at every other throw he fixed his fly before cr behind him—for Dick had not yet mastered the " flick " w_c_ all fishers of B—all brooks must practice, or they can do little. At last, after missing a really beautiful rise which swirled at him from under a network of roots forming a miniature colonnade in the water, he firmly fixed his tail-fly over his shoulder-blade, and, at the same time, slipped off a piece of red sandstone into a 3ft pool with a very unnecessary splash. Then Dick spoke. It was only one word of not many letters, and I am afraid it was not one of those words edifying or instructive, but it was very earnest, and no doubt relieving. Its solemnity was somewhat detracted from by a suspicious sound of smothered laughter in the branches near. Dick looked up. and caught an eye peering down upon him. He could only see one eye, and that was a blue and merry one, looking through the thick branches of a tree overhead, in which its owner (in company with its fellow) was perched, and had been for a few moments an interested spectator of Dick's exertions. The banks of the brook were somewhat high, so that though the limb of the tree, on which the gleam of a white summer dress could now be seen, was higher than the fisher's head, it was but little elevated above the field in which it grew—in fact, only a couple of feet. Now, Mr Richard Tyler -was a man who, well dressed and moving among hia fellowmen, was not very easily to be disconcerted, but, standing with his jacket rapidly absorbing the brook by capillary attraction, and his lower garments soaked to th e pockets, his fly caught in his own back, a bramble scratch across his nose, aud a particularly vicious horsefly perched on his ear, it must be confessed that he both looked and felt at a very considerable disadvantage. However, he could see by the Hash of white muslin that the eye had . a feminine owner, so he naturally raised his hat and tried to look at his ease. "I'm very sorry." said a voice, penitently ;" 1 did not mean to disturb you, but you were under the tree in which I was sitting to read, when you nearly frightened mc into the brook with such a dreadful splash. I'm sure you must be awfully wet 1" There was an ominous quiver of the voice in the last sentence, as of difficulty in restraining mirth, which was rather galling; and now the fixture in his shoulder came to his remembrance, so he gave a vicious tug, which not only resulted in that tly becoming a permanency, but also, woe upon woe, the dusty old lancewood of his top-piece flew into two beautifully pointed pieces. Here was a catastrophe; but Dick fortunately pos sessed sufficient presence of mind to reply — " No, thank you; but shall I disturb you if I come out into the field to repair damages?" I suppose the reply was favourable, for there was a ditlicult scramble up a steep bank by the aid of friendly branches, and a very few minutes afterwards Master Richard was sitting on the grass, the fractured rod beside him, while little rills in—udered peacefully among the long grass from soaked aud unpleasantly ad. iiesive garments. His was not the delight of emptying from waders enough for aa aquarium tank, as the too euterpri—ig Uyfisher will sometimes have to do af ■.«. i v cuturing like poor Cardinal Wol—y i> „<_ he emulated the little wanton boys who swim on bladders; but he felt like Mr Mantaliui, a dem'd moist unpleasant body, and wa. pleased to see tnat any inclination to laughter had been suppressed in the frank, clear eyes of the lady, who sat on a low, thick bough with her feet in the grass near him. The gentleman must have soon recovered his equanimity, and indeed have so far presumed upon his knowledge of the owner of the land on which he stood (who was an old friend and distant connection of his cousin) to introduce himself to the lady who seemed so much at home. I don't know bow it was done, but there must have been many friends known to both, and also something unusually interesting in the conversation to make him forget his sodden raiment and the splin. tered rod which lay appealingly beside him. His new companion, who had received his first speeches rather frigidly, thawed at his name, and while obviously too self-reliant to fear an impertinence or to bear a liberty, was chatty aud entertaining to a degree. She seemed but a girl on whose well-formed ficn_re the plain white dress and simple ribbons looked bright and dainty. At time 3 it really dawned upon Richard that she was unnecessarily merry, but hers was a style of face which merriment suited—a clear cut face with nose just inclined to b e retroussce, and even, white teeth which gleamed in the evening sun. In spite of all his manoeuvres Dick had been unable to ascertain where his new friend lived, and even her name was spoken at the moment when some accident, possibly a vagrom gnat, had broueht on a slight fit of coughing. In fact Mr Tyler had not caught it at all (even if she meant him to do so, which is open to doubt), and trusted to being able to ascertain it later on. She seemed to be intimate with the old Squire, Dick's host, and indeed said that the next pay she was coming to call upon his wife. There was no doubt about it, our military friend was certainly " hard hit" and couly not conceal it. but, when he began to wax sentimental and to lead the conversation in this direction, it was, as old Pepys would say. "mighty pretty" to see the calm way in which the young lady " turned his flank," misunderstood his best allu-

sions, and finally retired, not without, 11 o fear, a gentle squeeze of the grey glove, 1 without which Master Richard could not si consent to her departure. So Dick went n home with his thoughts full of the bright- cl eyed naiad who had " shot him flying "in y the most unmistakeable way, and whose v very unconventionally and quiet self as- f( surance had compelled his intense admir- s ation. fa 1 suppose this little adventure did not in s terfere much with Lieutenant Tyler's sleep a but, when morning meditation came, he li could not conceal from himself that he t was thinking a great deal of seeing his t charmer again that day, though he was too . wary to mention her to his cousin or hint s at his expectations, knowing that time V would bring him the knowledge he desired. I The morning dragged out a weary length, 1 he sauntered in and out of the stables a ( score of times, smoking his powerfully flavoured pipe, aud with Joe and Jack, two _ favourite terriers who had developed an 1 intense affection for him, at his heels. 1 Luncheon passed, and the impatient one, 1 after a futile effort to sleep, was wading 1 through page after page of an odd number 1 of a magazine, when he heard the sound of ] a carriage at the door. The morning room i in which he was sitting had no window to" 1 wards the drive, so he sat aud waited im. ] patiently until he knew the visitors were i safe in the drawing-room ; then, making for the door, he ran against his cousin coming in. "Dick." said the old gentleman, "I've news for you. Did you know tliat your grandfather has been staying over at Sir Edward's for more than a week, and that we called the day before you arrived I" " No, I did not," says Dick, rather ungraciously, " and I really don't take any ' interest in the old gentleman's move- ' ments. When he so far forgot himself as ' to marry the governess at Sir Edward Wakeley's without any warning to his ' family, it was time to sever our connec. ' tion. and to allow tho venerable bride- i groom to discover his error by hlmselL " ' " Come, come, Dick, my boyl you must not sulk any longer. I want to see your friends again. He is quite willing to over, look your letter; and you must, you really must come in and see 1 hem, as they have ' just arrived." What I Dick's heart sank into his boots Only his grandfather and the artful and no doubt plain-faced siren who had beguiled his old age I " Confound them, " muttered Sick, undutifully, " as if they could not come some : other afternoon than the one on which j was hoping to see my little watersid c nymph of yesterday !" However, he was not a malice-bearing youth and already began to repent of his anger towards his uxorious grandparent. So he opened the door and stood speechless as a bright-eyed, smiling young lady rose from her chair. " Dick, " said the old gentleman, " allow , mc to introduce you to your grand- i mother. "Sporting and Dramatic. '