restaurant somewhere
in the town. In his position as medical attendant Papellier regarded it
as his duty to remonstrate on this point, impressing upon him that he
ought to remember the drain on his constitution of the amount of brain
work that he was doing, both at the _Kobe Chronicle_ office and writing
at home.

There were reasons for this that Hearn would not care to tell Papellier.
Mrs. Koizumi was in delicate health, expecting her second child, and
Hearn doubtless, with that consideration that invariably distinguished
him in his treatment of his wife, had his food brought from outside so
as to save her the trouble and exertion of cooking it at home. Only in
one way, Papellier said, did he allow himself any indulgence, and that
was in the amount he smoked. Although he seldom took spirits, he smoked
incessantly--not cigars, but a small Japanese pipe--a _kiseru_--which he
handled in a skilful way, lighting one tiny tobacco pellet in the
glowing ashes of the one just consumed. One of his hobbies was
collecting pipes, the other was collecting books. He had already got
together a valuable library at New Orleans, he did the same in Japan. He
was able to exercise these hobbies inexpensively, but they needed
knowledge, time and patience. At his death he possessed more than two
hundred pipes, all shapes and sizes.

Every one whom we met when we arrived at Kobe advised us to call on the
editor of the _Kobe Chronicle_ if we wanted information on the subject
of Lafcadio Hearn. We therefore made our way to the _Kobe Chronicle_
office as soon as we could. Mr. Young as well as Mrs. Young, whose
acquaintance we made subsequently, were both full of reminiscences of
the odd little genius.

He generally made it a rule to drop into the Youngs' house every Sunday
for lunch; his particular fancy in the way of food, or, at all events,
the only thing he expressed a fancy for, was plum-pudding--a
plum-pudding therefore became a standing dish on Sundays, so long as
Hearn was in Kobe. "The Japanese," he was wont to say, "are a very
clever people, but they don't understand plum-pudding."

Absence of mind, and inattention to events passing around him, was very
noticeable, the Youngs told us, these days. Sometimes he seemed even to
find a difficulty in fixing his thoughts on the identity of the
individual with whom he was conversing.

Mrs. Young, if she will permit me to say so, is an extremely
agreeable-looking, clear-complexioned, chestn