femme!"

The first friend I made on my arrival in Antwerp was Jean Heyermans
(detto il Pegghi), and a very useful one he proved himself, for he at
once took me in hand, helped me to find home and hearth, and generally
gave me the correct tip, so valuable to the stranger. He lost no time
in teaching me some of those full-flavoured Flemish idioms which from
the first enabled me to emphasise my meaning when I wished to express
it in unmistakable language.

He himself was a remarkable linguist, speaking English, French, and
German fluently, in addition to his native language, Dutch; so he soon
chummed with du Maurier and me in several languages, and became one of
our set. He was always ready to follow us in our digressions from the
conventional course, and we felt that many of our best international
jokes would have been lost had it not been for his comprehension and
appreciation. His father, too, was a kind friend to us, inviting us to
his house to hear Music and talk Art, to ply knives and forks, and to
empty glasses of various dimensions. That gentleman's corpulence had
reached a degree which clearly showed that he must have "lost sight
of his knees" some years back, but he was none the less strong and
active. There were two daughters, one pathetically blind, the other
sympathetically musical.

How our friend came by the name of Peggy none of us know, but he
figures as such in many of du Maurier's drawings.

"If Peggy," he says, in a letter from Malines, "doesn't come on
Sunday, may the vengeance of the gods overtake him! Tell him so. I'll
meet him at the train." And then he sketches the meeting and greeting