he promise of regular employment for
his pencil seemed to be secure. This was the year in which he
illustrated Mrs. Gaskell's _Sylvia's Lovers_. "My life," he once said,
"was a very prosperous one from the outset in London; I was married in
1863, and my wife and I never once knew financial troubles. My only
trouble has been my fear about my eyes. Apart from that I have been very
happy."

Upon marrying, du Maurier moved to Great Russell Street, and, later, to
rooms in Earl's Terrace, Kensington, the house where Walter Pater died.

In the days when he was living in Great Russell Street the journalistic
world of London was very Bohemian. It is true that Leech had not made a
good Bohemian, but it was not until some time after du Maurier's
accession to the _Punch_ table that the weekly dinner lost an uproarious
gaiety that is recognised as the true Bohemian note. Mr. Punch and his
staff all improved their tone, Bohemia is now only a memory. It is the
very genius of Mr. Punch that makes him respond to the moment and become
the most decorous figure in the world in decorous times.

One cannot help being struck by a resemblance between the coming to town
and the almost immediate success there of du Maurier and Thackeray. The
comparison has its interest in the fact that as every man has his
master, beyond all dispute Thackeray was du Maurier's master. Both
quitted Bohemia, but in Society always retained the detachment of
artists. It was near to Thackeray's initials that du Maurier was
destined to cut his own on the great _Punch_ table. He himself described
the glamour Thackeray's name possessed for him, inspiring him as he
climbed out of the despair that followed the sudden partial deprivation
of his sight. The only time he met his master he was too diffident to
accept an invitation to be introduced. Thackeray seemed so great. But
all that evening he remained as close to him as possible, greedily
listening to his words. Like Thackeray, du Maurier thought that the
finest thing in the world was to live without fear and without reproach.
It is probable that Thackeray would not at all have minded not being
taken for a genius, but he would violently have resented not being
accounted a gentleman. For him that implied the great heart and the
scrupulous honour which Bohemia does not insist upon if you have great
spirits.

Section 6

Of du Maurier's great friendship with Canon Ainger, which commenced in
the seventies, light is to