accidents so happy, the talkers so ready, the listeners so willing,
the subjects presented to you in a rotation as quickly foreordained
as the courses at dinner? A dearth of topics would have been as
unheard of as a lapse in the service. These speculations couldn't
fail to lead me to the fundamental truth that Brooksmith had been
somehow at the bottom of the mystery. If he hadn't established the
salon at least he had carried it on. Brooksmith in short was the
artist!

We felt this covertly at the time, without formulating it, and were
conscious, as an ordered and prosperous community, of his even-
handed justice, all untainted with flunkeyism. He had none of that
vulgarity--his touch was infinitely fine. The delicacy of it was
clear to me on the first occasion my eyes rested, as they were so
often to rest again, on the domestic revealed, in the turbid light
of the street, by the opening of the house-door. I saw on the spot
that though he had plenty of school he carried it without
arrogance--he had remained articulate and human. L'Ecole Anglaise
Mr. Offord used laughingly to call him when, later on, it happened
more than once that we had some conversation about him. But I
remember accusing Mr. Offord of not doing him quite ideal justice.
That he wasn't one of the giants of the school, however, was
admitted by my old friend, who really understood him perfectly and
was devoted to him, as I shall show; which doubtless poor
Brooksmith had himself felt, to his cost, when his value in the
market was originally determined. The utility of his class in
general is estimated by the foot and the inch, and poor Brooksmith
had only about five feet three to put into circulation. He
acknowledged the inadequacy of this provision, and I'm sure was
penetrated with the everlasting fitness of the relation between