The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1891-05-24

Lusnes-then / turned away and walked
down the glen, not slowly. 1 shall notceny
that often looked over my shoulder as 1
went. and that. when / reached the loch.
did not angle without many q backward
glance. Such an appearance and dis
IN she sspe ss aee'' of STE fs% %sissr s ~sHs
Lockhart does not tell the anecdote.
which Is In q little anonymous volume,
"Recollections of Sir Walter Scott" pub
lished before Lockhart's book. Sir Walter
reports that he was once riding across the
moor to Ashestiel, in the clear. brown sum-
mer twilight, after sunset. He saw a man
Q little way ahead of him. but. Just before
he reached the spot, the man disappeared.
Scott rode about and about, searching the
low heather as / had done. out TO no pur-
pose. He rode on. and, glancing back. saw
the same man at the same place. He turned
his horse, galloped to the spot. AID AGAIN
the mare nor / cared TO wait any longer"
Neither had / cared to wait. and. IL there
is any shame in the confession, on my mead
be it!
Then came o week of blazing summer
weather; tramping over moors 10 Iocns iike
sheets of FURNISHED steel was out OF the
question, and / worked at IN book, which
now was all but finished. AT length 1
wrote 1.-The End" and 20 lie bon oun! Que
je poussaIs," as Flaubert saws about one or
his own Iaborious conclusions. The weather
broke. we had q deluge, and then came q
soft cloudy day, with warm southern
wind. suggesting a final ra3rch on Locn
Nan. | packed some scenes and marmalade
into my creel. filled my flask with whisky;
my CT garette-case with cigarettes and
started on the familiar track with
the happiest anticipations- Inc Lone
Fisher was quite out of my mlnd;
the day was exhilarating-One OF those
true fishing days. when you feel the
presence of the sun without seeing MIN.
Still. / looked rather cautiously over the
edge of the slope above the loch, and. Oy
I~~~f 49, mar ada
and wadIng deep among the reeds! l did
not stalk him this time. but set on running
down the hillside behind him as quickly as
my basket, with it's load of waders and
boots. would permit. l was within forty
yaros of him when he gave q wild s.agger,
tried to recover himself. failed, and this
time disappeared in a perfectly legitimate
and accountable manner. The treacher-
GUS ,peaty bottom had given way, and
his floating hat, with a splash on the sur,
face, and q few black bubbles. were all
that testified to his existence. There
was a broken old paling hard by; 1 tore OF
a long plank, waded IN as near as / dared.
and, by help of the plank, after q good deal
drenching. j succeeded In getting him on to
dry land. He was q distressing spectacle
his body and face all blackened with the
Shiny peat-mud, and be fell half-fainting
on the grass. convulsed by q terrible
cough. My first care was to give him
whisky. by perhaps a mistaken impulse OF
humanity: nv next, as he lay exhausted,
was to bring water In my hat and remove
the black mud from his face.
Then l saw Percy Alteration of st.
Jude's! His face was wasted. His thin,
long beard The had not worn q beard OF old.
clogged as 1t was with peat-stains. showed
hecks of gray.
ALLEN, Percy" / said. what wind blew
you heres"
But he did not answer. and, as he
coughed, 1T was too plain that the shock of
his accident had broken some vessel IN the
lungs. l tended him as we'll as l knew
how to do it. / sat beside him, CIV
ing him what comfort | might, and all the
time my memory flew back to collegs days
and to our strange and most unhappy last
meeting, and his subsequent inevitable dis
grace, far away from here-Loch Nan and
the vacant moOrs-my memory wandered.
IL was at Blocksby's ~auction-room. in q
street near the Strand. on the eve of a great
b0ok-sale three years before, that we had
though it is true that we had not spoken on
that occasion. 1t is necessary that l should
explain what occurred. or what L and three
other credible witnesses believed to have
occurred; for, upon my word, the more l see
and hear of human evidence of any event.
the less do / regard it as anything better
than an excessively probable hypothesis.
10 make q long story as short as may be, L
should say that Allen and / had been ac-
quainted when we we're undergraduates;
that. when fellows of our respective col
leges, our acquaintance had become init
mate: that we had once shared q little bit
of fishing on the Test, and we were both
book collectors. 1 was q comparatively sane
~bibliomaniac, but to Allen the time came
when he grudged every penny that he did
not spend On rare books, and when he
actually gave up has share OF the water we
used to a together. that his contribu-
tion TO the rent might go for rare editions
and bindings. After this deplorable change
of character we naturally saw each other
less. but we were still friendly. l went up
to town to scribble; Allen stayed on at OK
ford. One day l CHANGED to go into Blocks
| by's rooms; it was O Friday. / remember
there was to be a great sale on the Monday.
There met Allen in ecstasies over one of
the books displayed In the little side room
on the right hand of the sale-room. He
had taken out q glass case and was gloat-
ing over q book which. it seems, had long
been the blue rose OF his fancy as q col
lector: He was crazed about Longepierre.
the old French amateur, whose volumes,
you may remember. were always bound in
blue morocco, and fooled, on the center
and at the corners, with his badge. the
Golden Fleece. Now the tome which
critus. published at Rome by
Caliergus a TheOcritus on pa
per, if you please, bound in Longepierre's
morocco livery, double with red morocco.
and. oh, ecstasy with q copy of Longe-
pierre's version of one Idyn on the fly leaf,
signed with the translat0r's initials. and
headed q Mon Roy. 1t is known to the
curious hat Louis XIV particularly ad-
mired and praised this little poem, calling
it "a modelof honorable gallantry." Clearly
the grateful author had presented his own
COPY to the King: and here it was, when
King and crown had gone down into dust.
Allen showed me the book; he could
hardly let it leave his hands.
Here is q pearl" he had said. "a gem be-
yond price!"
Pm afraid you'll find it sc" ] SAID. THAT
is for Pallet or Rothscaild, not for you,
my boy"
Il fear SOL he had answered; eff / could
sell my whole library tomorrow l could
hardly raise the money!" for he was poor,
and it was rumored that his mania had al
ready made him acquainted with the Jews.
We parted. i went home to chambers;
Allen stayed adoring the unexampled
Longepierre. That night / dined out. and
happened to SIT next o young lady who pos
sessed q great deal of taste, though that
was the least of her charms. The fashion
for book collecting was among her innocent
pleasures; she had seen Aliens books at
Oxford, and ] told her of his ~longings for
the Theocritus. Miss Breton at once was
eager to see the book, and the other books,
and ] obtained leave to go with her
rooms mex day. The little side-room
where the treasures were displayed
was empty, except for an attendant.
when we went in; we looked at the things
and made learned remarks, but l admit
that l was more concerned to look at Miss
Breton than at any work in leather by De-
rome or BauzOnnet. We were thus q good
deal occupied, perhaps, with each other:
people came and went, while our heads