IN MEMORY OF PLESANT DAYS AT CORBY




PREFACE


Several of the sketches in this volume have appeared in periodicals. "The
Bloody Doctor" was in _Macmillan's Magazine_, "The Confessions of a
Duffer," "Loch Awe," and "The Lady or the Salmon?" were in the _Fishing
Gazette_, but have been to some extent re-written. "The Double Alibi"
was in _Longman's Magazine_. The author has to thank the Editors and
Publishers for permission to reprint these papers.

The gem engraved on the cover is enlarged from a small intaglio in the
collection of Mr. M. H. N. STORY-MASKELYNE, M.P. Such gems were
recommended by Clemens of Alexandria to the early Christians. "The
figure of a man fishing will put them in mind of the Apostle." Perhaps
the Greek is using the red hackle described by AElian in the only known
Greek reference to fly-fishing.




NOTE TO NEW EDITION


The historical version of the Black Officer's career, very unlike the
legend in "Loch Awe," may be read in Mr. Macpherson's _Social Life in the