out of the way of his friends, everybody thought we were on the Continent,
or somewhere else, and left us to ourselves. And as he had sent in his
pictures to the Academy, he was able to take a rest, which rest consisted
in working hard at all sorts of upholstery, not to mention painters' and
carpenters' work; so that we soon got the little house made into a very
warm and very pretty nest. I may mention that Percivale was particularly
pleased with a cabinet I bought for him on the sly, to stand in his study,
and hold his paints and brushes and sketches; for there were all sorts of
drawers in it, and some that it took us a good deal of trouble to find out,
though he was clever enough to suspect them from the first, when I hadn't a
thought of such a thing; and I have often fancied since that that cabinet
was just like himself, for I have been going on finding out things in
him that I had no idea were there when I married him. I had no idea that
he was a poet, for instance. I wonder to this day why he never showed me
any of his verses before we were married. He writes better poetry than
my father,--at least my father says so. Indeed, I soon came to feel very
ignorant and stupid beside him; he could tell me so many things, and
especially in art (for he had thought about all kinds of it), making me
understand that there is no end to it, any more than to the Nature which
sets it going, and that the more we see into Nature, and try to represent
it, the more ignorant and helpless we find ourselves, until at length I
began to wonder whether God might not have made the world so rich and full
just to teach his children humility. For a while I felt quite stunned.
He very much wanted me to draw; but I thought it was no use trying, and,
indeed, had no heart for it. I spoke to my father about it. He said it was
indeed of no use, if my object was to be able to think much of myself, for
no one could ever succeed in that in the long run; but if my object was to
reap the delight of the truth, it was worth while to spend hours and hours
on trying to draw a single tree-leaf, or paint the wing of a moth.