Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-10-13

Wilkie Collins.
theless 1 am still possessed of table. bottle of
brandy, a couple of glasses and box of ci-
gars, and will be happy to share them with
the author of So-and-so, "he wrote, as nearly
as l can remember. l found him in the heart
OF London, for he was then living in
Gloucester place. The house was large and
rather dingv one of the mansions of 100
years ago. when the masons of London were
LAYING the foundations of the gloomiest
buildings in ehristendom, and also of the
most protracted bouts of hypochondriasis.
The air OF gloom was as much within as
without the house in Gloucester place. The
walls were paneled, the stairs we're of stone,
and the hall was cold and the whole house
seemed cherries. Much of this effect must
have been due to the dwelling itself, for
when at later date Collins removed to
Wimpole street his house was very bright
and homelike. The door had been answered
by manservant, whose nervousness, hesi-
fancy and difidence told long story in ad-
vance of the habits of close retirement OBJ
served by the man had come to see. Per-
haps 1t cannot so confidently be affirmed of
Collins house as one might have said of the
house of Dante Rosetti, that it reflected the
mind Of the man who lived in it, for many
Of the quaint things that made it curious
and the beautiful things that made it pleas
ant had come to him from his father, the
painter.
THE AUTHORS APPEARANCE.
Wilkie Collins was frs pointed out to
me by the poet Rosetti as we were passing
through Regents Park. That's Wilkie
Collins" said Rosetti, and 1 looked and
ssw small, elderly man, gray-haired and
gray-bearded, large-eyed and lion-headed
roaad shouldered and STOPPING heavily.
Thas was my first glimpse of Collins, and
swift as it must have been, it left its vivid
impression, so that when he came into the
room to me FIVE years afterward at Glouces-
ter Place, remembered in moment that
had seen him before. But he had grown
feebler in that interval, paler of face and
more fabby Of body. 1 think cannot bet
ter describe the effect of his face for those
who have not seen it, but have seen the face
OF Garibaldi, than to say that the noyelist's
face resembled the patriots, with the
difference of having less power and
more vividness. The only serious point
at which this description would be
at fault would be in respect of the ewes,
which were large and protruded, and had
the vague and dreamy look that is some
times seen in the eyes of the blind. Perhaps
Iwould come nearer to giving the right i'm
preston if were to add (what 1 hesitate to
say), that the expression of Collins ewes at
this time was exactly that OF q man to whom
chloroform has just before been admins
tered. Collins eyes fixed my attention in
stantly, and be saw that it was so. Perhaps
he suspected that read their strange look by
the light Of nv late experience, perhaps be
was 10th to trust me then, as he trusted me
later, but before we had been talking to-
gether long he interrupted the conversation
and said something like this: 81 see that
you can't keep your eyes off my eyes, and I
ought to say that I've got the gout in them,
and that it is trying to blind Ine."
/ was much troubled that l had brought
down this remark by the unconscious rude
ness OF too constant gaze into the eyes that
fascinated me by the story they seemed to
tell of daily habit and lifelong suffering.
But l made no attempt to excuse it, and ac-
centing Collins reference to the gout as a
sufficient explanation, banished the matter
from my mind. 1t came up again some
months afterward, and it came up once more
at the end, and then l remembered with a
painful vividness what my feeling had been
at first meeting Wilkie Collins face to face.
a GOOD TALKER
found him good and animated talker,
never very spontaneous, but always precise
and right mot blundering and tripping, as
have heard brilliant takers blunder and
trip, but also not passionate and overwhelm-
ing and Irresistible. His voice was fairly
full and of even quality, without shrill notes
in it, and without thrilling depths, good
voice, not at all a great one In manner he
was quiet, little nervous, and not prone to
much gesture. He sat while he talked, with
his head halt down, and his eyes usually on
the table; but he looked into your face from
time to time, and then his gaze was steady
and encouraging, and you never felt for q
moment that his eye was upon you. In
deed, without being the most
magnetic" OF men, he was man to
set you at your ease, to get the best out of
you, to send you away with comfortable |
feeling toward yourself, and vet man with |
proper sense of personal dignity. You !
never knew it for dignity, and that was ex-
actly where its strength lay. You left him |
with the feeling that Wilkie Collins was |
worthy OF "The Moonstone," and that 1.-THE |
Moonstone" was not better product than |
Wilkie Collins. Those who have seen |
much of distinguished people will know |
what I mean by that, for the chilling of en- |
thusiasm that may come upon the first |
meeting with someone who has been known |
and revered for years is one OF the hero |
worshiper's commonest experiences.
Wilkie Collins certainly did not disap- |
point expectations, and neither did he trans
cend them. The same large grasp of fact |
and command of detail which you find in
the novels you found in the man. If his |
conversation was not large, if his outlook on
life was not wide, if his horizon was not far |
away, neither were they little and narrow
and near. His insight was sure, his MEM
ory unfaihng, and his invention equal. In
a word, to meet him on fair terms and on his
own subjects, was to know, without having
read his books, that he was full man, pow
erful by nature, and thoroughly equipped
all round BY education and acquaintance
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