96 MEMOIR OF FLEEMING JENKIN 



triumphant heroism knew no Hmit to its beauty. 

 Of course on returning I found Mrs. Austin looking 

 out at the door in an anxious manner, and thinking 

 we had been out quite long enough. ... I am 

 reading Don Quixote chiefly and am his fervent 

 admirer, but I am so sorry he did not place his affec- 

 tions on a Dulcinea of somewhat worthier stamp. 

 In fact I think there must be a mistake about it. 

 Don Quixote might and would serve his lady in 

 most preposterous fashion, but I am sure he would 

 have chosen a lady of merit. He imagined her to 

 be such no doubt, and drew a charming picture of 

 her occupations by the banks of the river ; but in 

 his other imaginations, there was some kind of peg 

 on which to hang the false costumes he created ; 

 windmills are big, and wave their arms like giants ; 

 sheep in the distance are somewhat like an army ; 

 a little boat on the river-side must look much the 

 same whether enchanted or belonging to millers ; 

 but except that Dulcinea is a woman, she bears no 

 resemblance at all to the damsel of his imagination.' 

 Illness At the time of these letters, the oldest son only 



of Mrs 



jenkin.* was born to them. In September of the next year, 

 with the birth of the second, Charles Frewen, there 

 befell Fleeming a terrible alarm and what proved 

 to be a lifelong misfortune. Mrs. Jenkin was taken 

 suddenly and alarmingly ill ; Fleeming ran a matter 

 of two miles to fetch the doctor, and drenched with 

 sweat as he was, returned with him at once in an 



