160 WANDERINGS AND MEMORIES 



ambitions. It was, in fact, a bond of sympathy 

 between two human beings in which even the dis- 

 parity of age could make no difference. At the 

 time of Neumann's death Noomi Jackson was at a 

 convent school in Belgium, and the whole account 

 of the appearance of Neumann to Noomi Jackson 

 is contained in the following letter from Mrs. 

 Jackson to Charles Neumann 



" Kenilworth Court, 



"Putney, S.W. 

 September 4th, 1907. 



" DEAR MR. NEUMANN, 



" Thank you so much for your kind letter 

 received this morning, which has been a great com- 

 fort to me. I shall now do my best to let N. con- 

 tinue her studies, which she is so anxious to do. 



" In regard to the extraordinary incident I 

 mentioned to you, I will do my best to write it 

 down, and tell you all that happened. 



" First of all, I must say that it was my earnest 

 desire that Noomi should not know how her Uncle 

 N. (as she always called him) met his death, so I 

 never mentioned anything about him until the 

 Tuesday following, in my usual weekly letter. My 

 few words were, ' I have very sad news for you. 

 Poor Uncle Neumann died suddenly on Wednesday 

 and was buried on Saturday.' That letter was 

 delayed three further days. When I met my 

 daughter at Charing Cross on the 6th of August, 

 almost her first words were, ' Mother, please tell 

 me the truth about Uncle N.' I said, 4 What do 

 you mean, dear ? ' She then said, ' You can't 

 deceive me, Mother; just tell me. Did he die 



