40 APRIL 



But he never thrusts conversation upon you, nor 

 gets opinionative, nor lays down the law, nor in any 

 way expresses himself when he can possibly 

 refrain from so doing. This characteristic is so 

 utterly different from any that the average man can 

 boast that it amounts to the charm of eccentricity 

 of the best kind. 



Another remarkable thing about Jim is that he 

 never tries to coerce anybody. If a servant or 

 other person takes it into his head to behave in an 

 extraordinary manner, Jim never for a moment 

 dreams of checking him ; "I daresay he's all right, 

 really," he says. And it is the same thing even 

 with the animals. He has to keep his hands in his 

 pockets at meal times, except when he is making 

 use of them, because his favourite cat claws them 

 in order to attract his attention and to induce him 

 to give her portions of his food. I have certainly 

 heard him make a sudden and somewhat objurga- 

 tory remark when he has not taken this precaution, 

 and Lydia Die has succeeded in her wicked inten- 

 tion. His cat's name is Lydia, though the reason 

 why I have never been able to discover, and 

 naturally in the course of time she has become 

 known as Lydia Die. Any other person would hit 

 Lydia Die and break her of her bad habit in a 

 couple of days ; but Jim pretends that he does not 

 really object to it, although he is very careful to 

 resort when necessary to the safe haven of those 

 trouser pockets. 



I wonder if absent-minded people know how 

 absent-minded they are. One morning, when Jim 

 made no beginning to eat his breakfast, I saw him 



