He hired a bedroom in a
mean street near Paddington, and, on the day after his arrival in London,
purchased a large map and index of the city which gave ample particulars of
public buildings and mentioned the names and positions of the great
permanent homes of art. By the help of newspaper advertisements he also
ascertained where to find some of the numerous private dealers' galleries
and likewise learned what public annual exhibitions chanced to be at that
time open. Whereupon, though the circumstance failed to quicken his pulse,
he discovered that the extent of his labors would prove far greater than he
at first imagined. He made careful lists of the places where pictures were
to be seen, and the number quickly ran up to fifty, sixty, seventy
exhibitions. That he would be able to visit all these Joe knew was
impossible, but the fact caused him no disquiet. The picture he sought and
the name of the man who painted it must be presented to him in due season.
For him it only remained to toil systematically at the search and allow no
clew to escape him. As for the issue, it was with the Lord.
London swept and surged about Joe Noy unheeded. He cared for nothing but
canvases and the places where they might be seen. Day by day he worked and
went early to rest, weary and worn by occupation of a nature so foreign to
his experience. Nightly his last act was to delete one or sometimes two of
the exhibitions figured upon his lists.
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