APRIL 41 



lifting up various articles from the table and put- 

 ting them back again with an air of dissatisfaction. 

 He examined a salt-cellar on every side and under- 

 neath ; his teaspoon came in for a considerable 

 share of attention, and so did the knives and forks 

 in front of him. I passed him the mustard, but 

 after looking at it carefully he put it down again. 

 Then I said, " Will you have some cold chicken ? " 

 and he replied dreamily, " No, thank you." 



"Jim," I said, "if you say the word aloud we 

 shall very likely be able to find what you are 

 looking for. What is it?" 



"Oh, never mind; only an appetite," he mur- 

 mured, as though his thoughts were millions of 

 miles away in space. He has always stoutly 

 denied the truth of this story, which makes me 

 wonder if absent-minded persons know how absent- 

 minded they are. 



Some people might think it uncomfortable to live 

 with a philosopher whose real self is in the remotest 

 mists of metaphysic when you want to talk about 

 snapdragons or carnation layers ; but the oddest 

 thing of all is that just when you imagine he is 

 living among the ancient Greeks he wakes up to 

 you suddenly, and knows everything that has been 

 going on. His dreamy blue eyes see to the very 

 bottom of you, and I would rather trust his judg- 

 ment of character than that of most persons. We 

 all went once to be introduced to a new member of 

 the family of whom some of us thought we had 

 reason to be rather proud. When Jim and I came 

 away I said to him 



" What do you think of Seraphina ? " 



