IV

SOCIABILITIES





I have a friend here, an old friend, who, in refreshing contrast
with the majority of the human race, possesses strongly marked
characteristics. He knows exactly the sort of life that suits him,
and exactly what he likes. He is not, as Mr. Enfield said, one of
the fellows who go about doing what is called "good." But he
contrives to give a great deal of happiness without having any
programme. He is, in the first place, a savant with a great
reputation; but he makes no parade of his work, and sits down to it
because he likes it, as a hungry man may sit down to a pleasant
meal. He is thus the most leisurely man that I know, while, at the
same time, his output is amazing. His table is covered deep with
books and papers; but he will work at a corner, if he is fortunate
enough to find one; and, if not, he will make a kind of cutting in
the mass, and work in the shade, with steep banks of stratified
papers on either hand. He is always accessible, always ready to
help any one. The undergraduate, that shy bird in whose sight the