there a word about his prospects, by neither was his income
mentioned. 'Are these people,' he wrote, struck with wonder at
this dignified disinterestedness, 'are these people the same as
other people?' It was not till he was armed with this permission,
that Miss Austin even suspected the nature of his hopes: so
strong, in this unmannerly boy, was the principle of true courtesy;
so powerful, in this impetuous nature, the springs of self-
repression. And yet a boy he was; a boy in heart and mind; and it
was with a boy's chivalry and frankness that he won his wife. His
conduct was a model of honour, hardly of tact; to conceal love from
the loved one, to court her parents, to be silent and discreet till
these are won, and then without preparation to approach the lady -
these are not arts that I would recommend for imitation. They lead
to final refusal. Nothing saved Fleeming from that fate, but one
circumstance that cannot be counted upon - the hearty favour of the
mother, and one gift that is inimitable and that never failed him
throughout life, the gift of a nature essentially noble and
outspoken. A happy and high-minded anger flashed through his
despair: it won for him his wife.

Nearly two years passed before it was possible to marry: two years
of activity, now in London; now at Birkenhead, fitting out ships,
inventing new machinery for new purposes, and dipping into
electrical experiment; now in the ELBA on his first telegraph
cruise between Sardinia and Algiers: a busy and delightful period
of bounding ardour, incessant toil, growing hope and fresh
interests, with behind and through all, the image of his beloved.
A few extracts from his correspondence with his betrothed will give
the note of these truly joyous years. 'My profession gives me all
the excitement and interest I ever hope for, but the sorry jade is