“Not till this evening, after tea.”
“Where are you going?”
“Down by the mill.”
“Wouldn’t like to try after a big carp, I s’pose, or one of our old perch?”
“Wouldn’t like!” cried Mercer excitedly.
“No, I thought you wouldn’t,” said the keeper. “There, I must be off.”
“Oh, I say, Bob Hopley, do give us leave.”
“What leave?”
“To have an hour or two in the hammer pond. There’s a good chap, do!”
“The master mightn’t like it. Not as he ever said I wasn’t to let any one fish.”