His happy disposition, unfailing good humour, and keen
enjoyment of everything, even of the occasional discomforts that arose,
as in travelling discomforts will arise, especially when funds are not
too plentiful, made every hour of our holiday enjoyable. He had the
happy gift of seeing always the humorous and the best side of things. He
acted as paymaster on our tours and presented with great regularity
records of our joint expenditure with the neatness and accuracy of the
perfect accountant. Never a pipe smoker, he had no special interest in
pipes, but to me the happiness of our first holiday was increased by the
colouring of a new meerschaum. In this delightful art I was a disciple
of Samuel Swarbrick, though I needed not, as he did, the services of
another in the early stages of the colouring process. Whoever has been
the votary of a meerschaum will understand the pride with which I
frequently displayed my pipe and its deepening colour to Bailey, often to
his great amusement I must admit. In a hotel in the city of Antwerp,
where we stayed for several days, we occupied adjoining bedrooms having a
communicating door.
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