SKATING AND RUNNING. 305 



as the ice was smooth and free from ohstacles. And, 

 given such a pond, he would spend an hour or so in 

 perfect happiness, cutting threes and eights and all the 

 various figures which only an accomplished skater can 

 achieve. 



He was also a fair long-distance runner, with con- 

 siderable powers of endurance, but no great speed ; and 

 his daily three-mile run, which he kept up until about 

 his forty-fifth year, scarcely seemed to fatigue him in 

 the least. And at one time he was not unfrequently in 

 the habit on Sundays more especially of paying a 

 visit to a distant friend, travelling by train one way, 

 and walking or running the other. Sometimes, when 

 he reserved the train for the return journey, his 

 adventures were rather amusing, for he never would 

 allow himself more than just sufficient time to reach 

 the station, and was not infrequently left behind. On 

 one occasion he turned up at half-past three in the 

 morning, having missed his train, but having managed 

 to obtain a lift for part of the distance in a belated 

 tradesman's cart. Another time he came home on the 

 engine of a goods train, b} 7 means of a small douceur 

 to the driver, who obligingly stopped just outside the 

 station in order to allow him to descend. Of course 

 he had no business to be there ; but he had the most 

 wonderful knack of going where he chose, and doing 

 what he chose, without interference from anybody. He 

 once obtained one of the very best stalls for the Handel 

 Festival simply by asking for it ; he found his way 

 behind the curtain of a London theatre in order to 

 u 



