The Washington times., 1901-11-10
Du Maurier md PINCH.

HE was by fa- and away the cleverest
| conversationalist of his time 1 ever met, ,"
| says Mr.. Furniss. His delightful repar-
tees were so neat and effective and his
daring chaff and his criticisms so bright
and refreshing
| tor some extraordinary reason Du
| Maurier was known to the Punch men
as Kiki-a friendly sobriquet which greet
| ed him when he first Joined, and refers
| to his nationality. In the same way as an
| English schoolboy calls out 'F'roggy' to a
Frcnchman, his friends on the Punch
staff called him Kiki, suggested by the
| Frenchmans peculiar and Un-English art
OF selfdefence
"Du Maurier's extremely clever CONVEX
sation struck me the moment l Joined the
| staff Of Punch As l went part of his
way to Hampstead, we sometimes shared
our cab, and in one of these journeys l
mentioned my conviction that he. in my
mind. was a great deal more than a hu-
morous artist and if he would only take
up the pen seriously the world would be
all the more indebted to him. He told
me that Mr.. James had for some time
said nice things of a similar character
About ten days afterward l received u
letter saying that my conversation had
had an effect upon him, and that he was
starting his first novel So perhaps the
world is really indebted TO me. Indirectly,
for the pleasure of reading Peter Jbbetson'
and Trilby.' The fact is that he had, with
Burnand and myself. just visited Paris
the first time he had set foot in the gay
city since his youth. Many things he saw
had impressed him, and Peter Ibbetson"
was the result. How Interesting 1t was
TO watch him in Paris, the place Of his
birth, standing, the ideal type of a
Frenchman himself, smiling and as
amused as a boy at his own country men
and women. so very un-English, you
knowr Then as We drove about Paris he
stood up in the carriage, eXcitedly point
ing out places familiar to him in his
young days, and greatly amused us by
pointing oct no fewer than three differ
ent houses in which he was born.
''Du Maurier rarely forgave a satirical
thrust at his expense. His dislike for Mr..
Whistler on this account Is well known
TO all Of the early readers of 'Trilby,'
and he often related with unconcealed
glee a remark he once made to Whistler.
II appears that they had not met for
long period, during which Du Maurier
with his satirical pictures on the esthetic
craze. published in Punch. and Whis-
tier. with his Symptoms and .Harmo-
MES on Canvas exhibited TO the law
courts, had both increased their reputa
tion.
'Hulo. Kiki' cried Whistler I'm told
that your work in Punch is the making
Tomkinsi Why, he never would have eE-
listed but for you. Ha. ha! How on earth
did you do it?
=. ook here, Jimmy. II you don't look
out by Jove! I'll invent you
How llild Du Maurief) carried out
his threat in "Triiby.' and what resulted
from it. all the world knows.
By the way, the mention of 'Trilby
reminds me Of story about Du Mau-
riers own 'Trilby, which is perhaps
worth recording. Du Maurier for some
years lived on the top OF Hampstead
Heath-rathcr inaccessible for models But
more than once friends asked him to take
a sitting from some lady or another, as
he, drawing fashionable ladies, was DIFF
ferent, perhaps. from painters using mod
els for costumes, or, as Du Maurier would
say, for the altogether In this way
model was introduced to him, and to his
surprise she drove up to the house In
hanson, and he heard her asking one Of
the servants for change of sovereign
to pay the cabman. She did not sit very
well. SO after a short time Mr.. Du Mau-
rier told her that he only drew for mod
els for part of tie day, and rather apol-
ogetically said he. of course. did not pay
for the whole of the usual days sitting,
'oh, thanks, am only too pleased to
sit for a short time; but would you kind
ly ask one of your servants to fetch me
a hanson?
This made the artist more than ever
miserable, and he said: Excuse me. but
perhaps you are not aware we only pay
n modest sum for sitters-tn fact, / gen
orally pay IS for two hours--aw-
You don't mean to say you are real
ly going to give me IS? Oh, how kind OF
you, 1t will just pay half my cab fare
home. I didn't know I was going to be
so lucky And she vanished, leaving the
artist more bewildered than ever.
Some time afterward in Hyde Park he
was surprised to see n carriage bcauti-
fully appointed pulled up 10 where he was
standing. and a lady leaned out and said:
" i have never seen you before to thank
you for your kindness IN allowing me 20
SIT for you. / was so anxious to see what
a studio was like. Thanks awfully. You
must let me call again "