schicken."

For the benefit of those whose inner consciousness is not in touch
with the above, I give the English version:--

"Mr. Rag sends _his_ greeting and _her_ brother to Miss Moscheles, and
kindly requests her to reciprocate the proceeding in a fortnight by
returning _her_ greeting and _his_ friend."

[Illustration: "HERR RAG SCHICKT ZU FRÄULEIN MOSCHELES SEIN EMPFEHLUNG
UND IHREN BRUDER."]

[Illustration: LIX.]

When I think how easily and spontaneously such sketches dropped from
his pen, I am reminded of a passage in one of Mendelssohn's letters to
my mother; he sends her the _Mailied_ and says: "This morning a song
came to me. I really must write it down for you." So, too, from the
first the pen-and-ink compositions came to du Maurier. His talent
manifested itself not only in a desire to illustrate this or that
incident or adventure, but also in his inexhaustible capacity for
making something out of nothing, and as the nothing was never lacking,
he might well say: "Dear Bobtail, I will never write without sending
my compliments to thine album." His rendering of "Cher Lix," for
instance, takes the shape of a graceful monogram, or diplogram, or
whatever I ought to call a combination of our two profiles and my
name.

[Illustration]