Going by
myself, no two people can meet without being a means of instruction to
each other, to say nothing else. You are where the swing of events must
be felt, and I am in the back-water of retirement. It may entertain us
both, to study new subjects under old lights.'
Thus flew many an hour, and many an evening, and the memory of them is
green and grateful to me. Here was an incident, there a reflection, and
always it was Sir George Grey intimate, whether in a frame large or
small. It is the rivulets, babbling to the big stream, that really tell
its tale, for without them it would not be; and so with the river of
life. Beside me, a scarred veteran looked back upon himself, hailing some
venture from the mist of years. Again, it might be an event on the wing;
or the future, and him bending eagerly forward into its sunshine.
We wrote things, he inspiring, I setting down, and by and by I exclaimed:
'Why, I am getting, to be quite a depository of your memories and ideas.'
At that he smiled, 'And who, do you fancy, would thank you for them?'
Thus a portrait of Sir George grew with me, and I was for stroking it
down somehow. 'Oh well,' quoth he, 'let's try and gather together what
may be fresh, or suggestive, in my experiences, and yours be the blame.
Whatever you do must have a certain spirit of action--you know what I
mean!--or nobody will look at it.
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