PROCEEDINGS 01- THE COTTESWOLD CLUB 183 



it, pitching the peg into their heads : what the boys said 

 who owned the other tops : — and then he puts the whole 

 lot back into his pocket, and changes the subject. He 

 has forgotten all about the pencil." 



" It's just the same, you know, with Niblett. You ask 

 him some question about the Fairford Windows. He 

 goes off into the question of Albert Durer : and tells you 

 that some mark they take to be Albert Durer's was only 

 meant for a sign to ward off the effects of the Evil Eye — 

 and then he goes off into the history of the Evil Eye, and 

 you hear no more about the Fairford Windows." 



Yet on the Fairford Windows John Niblett was no 

 mean authority. He had studied them as few men 

 besides have done. " Can you tell me where John Niblett 

 is?" asked John Jones one day, of Barwick Baker, as he 

 met him in the street in Gloucester — " Eve been enquir- 

 ing of his father : and he said the last they had seen of 

 him was when he went to dress for dinner at Haresfield 

 several days ago. They waited for him : but he didn't 

 come : and then they found he had gone out. He hasn't 

 been seen since." " Dear me, I said — but that is very 

 extraordinary ! " " Not at all," says the old squire, 

 "There's nothing extraordinary about it. There might 

 be if it was anyone else : but it's just exactly what John 

 would do ! " 



" No," said Barwick Baker, " 1 don't know where he is : 

 but ff you will direct a letter 'J. D. T. Niblett, Esq., East 

 Window, Fairford Church,' I haven't any doubt it will 

 find him, for he's been there a good deal lately ! " The 

 hint was taken, and that letter, John Jones assured us, 

 was delivered to him by the postman half way up a ladder, 

 in the window ! 



Personally, I am greatly indebted to John Niblett for 

 many facts in our local arch?eology, of which he had 

 made a thorough and life-long study. He was the most 

 painstaking man, and one of the most unselfish I have 



