THE MIDNIGHT PRESENCE OF THE UNCANNY 60

FELIX LOOKS VERY SEEDY AFTER HIS BIRTHDAY 64

"RACHEL" AND FRIENDS CELEBRATE BOBTAIL'S BIRTHDAY 65

RAG 72

BOBTAIL 72

"WHAT THE DEUCE AM I TO DO WITH THIS CONFOUNDED ROPE? HANG MYSELF, I
WONDER." 76

COFFEE AND BRASSIN IN BOBTAIL'S ROOMS 80

CLARA MOSCHELES 83

"HERR RAG SCHICKT ZU FRAeULEIN MOSCHELES SEIN EMPFEHLUNG UND IHREN
BRUDER." 87

CHER LIX 88

"AN INDISCREET FELLOW LOOKING OVER MY ----" 89

DU MAURIER AT WORK AGAIN 90

"CLAUDIUS FELIX ET PUBLIUS BUSSO, CUM CENTURIONE GUIDORUM, AUDIENTES
JUVENES CONSERVATORIONI" 91

DOUBLE-BEDDED ROOM IN BRUSSELS 93

THE HEIGHT OF ENJOYMENT 95

YE CELEBRATED RAG TREATETH HIMSELF TO A PRIVATE PERFORMANCE OF YE
PADRE FURIOSO E FIGLIA INFELICE 97

AT THE HOFRATH'S DOOR 99

"I SAY, GOVERNOR, MIND YOU DON'T GASH HIS THROAT AS YOU DID THAT
POOR OLD SPANIARD'S" 100

MR KENNEDY, WHO IS QUITE BLIND, DISCREETLY INFORMS THE PROFESSOR
THAT CAPTAIN MARIUS BLUEBLAST "IS NA BUT A SINFU' BLACKGUARD" 101

MEETING IN DUeSSELDORF 103

SCENE FROM MACPHERSON'S OSSIAN 106

PORTRAIT OF PICCIOLA 115

"ON THEIR HONEYMOON" 116

_Also Illustration on pages_ 37, 88, 98, 102, 108, 109, 110, 112,
114, 119, 123, 135, 144, 145.

* * * * *

I.

"TUMBLINGS"

_WITH DU MAURIER AND FRIENDS._

"I well remember" my first meeting with du Maurier in the class-rooms
of the famous Antwerp Academy.

I was painting and blagueing, as one paints and blagues in the storm
and stress period of one's artistic development.

It had been my good fortune to commence my studies in Paris; it was
there, in the atelier Gleyre, I had cultivated, I think I may say,
very successfully, the essentially French art of chaffing, known by
the name of "La blague parisienne," and I now was able to give my
less lively Flemish friends and fellow-students the full benefit of my
experience. Many pleasant recollections bound me to Paris; so, when
I heard one day that a "Nouveau" had arrived, straight from my old
atelier Gleyre, I was not a little impatient to make his acquaintance.

[Illustration: THE ATELIER GLEYRE.]

The new-comer was du Maurier. I sought him out, and, taking it for
granted that he was a Frenchman, I addressed him in French; we were
soon engaged in lively conversation, asking and answering questions
about the comrades i