READING. - WE ARE TOWED BY STEAM LAUNCH. - IRRITATING BEHAVIOUR OF SMALLBOATS. - HOW THEY GET IN THE WAY OF STEAM LAUNCHES. - GEORGE AND HARRISAGAIN SHIRK THEIR WORK. - RATHER A HACKNEYED STORY. - STREATLEY ANDGORING.

　　WE came in sight of Reading about eleven. The river is dirty and dismalhere. One does not linger in the neighbourhood of Reading. The townitself is a famous old place, dating from the dim days of King Ethelred,when the Danes anchored their warships in the Kennet, and started fromReading to ravage all the land of Wessex; and here Ethelred and hisbrother Alfred fought and defeated them, Ethelred doing the praying andAlfred the fighting.

　　In later years, Reading seems to have been regarded as a handy place torun down to, when matters were becoming unpleasant in London. Parliamentgenerally rushed off to Reading whenever there was a plague on atWestminster; and, in 1625, the Law followed suit, and all the courts wereheld at Reading. It must have been worth while having a mere ordinaryplague now and then in London to get rid of both the lawyers and theParliament.

　　During the Parliamentary struggle, Reading was besieged by the Earl ofEssex, and, a quarter of a century later, the Prince of Orange routedKing James's troops there.

　　Henry I. lies buried at Reading, in the Benedictine abbey founded by himthere, the ruins of which may still be seen; and, in this same abbey,great John of Gaunt was married to the Lady Blanche.

　　At Reading lock we came up with a steam launch, belonging to some friendsof mine, and they towed us up to within about a mile of Streatley. It isvery delightful being towed up by a launch. I prefer it myself torowing. The run would have been more delightful still, if it had notbeen for a lot of wretched small boats that were continually getting inthe way of our launch, and, to avoid running down which, we had to becontinually easing and stopping. It is really most annoying, the mannerin which these rowing boats get in the way of one's launch up the river;something ought to done to stop it.

　　And they are so confoundedly impertinent, too, over it. You can whistletill you nearly burst your boiler before they will trouble themselves tohurry. I would have one or two of them run down now and then, if I hadmy way, just to teach them all a lesson.

　　The river becomes very lovely from a little above Reading. The railwayrather spoils it near Tilehurst, but from Mapledurham up to Streatley itis glorious. A little above Mapledurham lock you pass Hardwick House,where Charles I. played bowls. The neighbourhood of Pangbourne, wherethe quaint little Swan Inn stands, must be as familiar to the HABITUES ofthe Art Exhibitions as it is to its own inhabitants.

　　My friends' launch cast us loose just below the grotto, and then Harriswanted to make out that it was my turn to pull. This seemed to me mostunreasonable. It had been arranged in the morning that I should bringthe boat up to three miles above Reading. Well, here we were, ten milesabove Reading! Surely it was now their turn again.

　　I could not get either George or Harris to see the matter in its properlight, however; so, to save argument, I took the sculls. I had not beenpulling for more than a minute or so, when George noticed something blackfloating on the water, and we drew up to it. George leant over, as weneared it, and laid hold of it. And then he drew back with a cry, and ablanched face.

　　It was the dead body of a woman. It lay very lightly on the water, andthe face was sweet and calm. It was not a beautiful face; it was tooprematurely aged-looking, too thin and drawn, to be that; but it was agentle, lovable face, in spite of its stamp of pinch and poverty, andupon it was that look of re............