One of these gentlemen proved a
solicitor from Bath, and that made me feel more at home, knowing
and loving Bath as I did. It did not matter that in trying for
some mutual acquaintance there we failed; our good-will was
everything; and the solicitor was intelligent and agreeable. The
other gentleman, tall, dark, of urbane stateliness, was something
more, in the touch of Oriental suavity which, more than his nose,
betrayed him; and it appeared, in delightful suggestion of the
old-time commercial intimacy of the Dutch and English coasts,
that he was from Holland, and next morning at breakfast he
developed a large valise, which I now think held samples. If he
was a Dutch Jew, he was probably a Spanish Jew by descent, and
what will the difficult reader have more, in the materials for
his romance? Did we gather about the grate after we had done
dinner, and each tell the story of his life, or at least the most
remarkable thing that had ever happened to him?
[Illustration: THE "STUMP" OF ST. BOTOLPH'S CHURCH AGAINST THE
SKY]
I cannot say, but I remember that my friend and I, in my instant
hunger for Boston, which was greater than my hunger for dinner,
set forth while the meal was preparing, and visited the Church of
St.
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