Ixiv MEMOIR 



is in truth only a clique like another ; and Fleeming was to her 

 the nameless assistant of a nameless firm of engineers, doing 

 his inglorious business, as she now saw for herself, among 

 unsavoury surroundings. But when their walk brought them 

 within view of the river, she beheld a sight to her of the most 

 novel beauty : four great, sea-going ships dressed out with flags. 

 1 How lovely ! ' she cried. < What is it for ? ' ' For you,' said 

 Fleeming. Her surprise was only equalled by her pleasure. 

 But perhaps, for what we may call private fame, there is no 

 life like that of the engineer ; who is a great man in out of the 

 way places, by the dockside or on the desert island or in populous 

 ships, and remains quite unheard of in the coteries of London 

 And Fleeming had already made his mark among the few who 

 had an opportunity of knowing him. 

 His His marriage was the one decisive incident of his career ; from 



that moment until the day of his death, he had one thought to 

 which all the rest were tributary, the thought of his wife. 

 No one could know him even slightly, and not remark the ab- 

 sorbing greatness of that sentiment ; nor can any picture of the 

 man be drawn that does not in proportion dwell upon it. This 

 is a delicate task ; but if we are to leave behind us (as we wish) 

 some presentment of the friend we have lost, it is a task that 

 must be undertaken. 



For all his play of mind and fancy, for all his indulgence and, 

 as time went on, he grew indulgent Fleeming had views of duty 

 that were even stern. He was too shrewd a student of his 

 fellow men to remain long content with rigid formulae of con- 

 duct. Iron-bound, impersonal ethics, the procrustean bed of 

 rules, he soon saw at their true value as the deification of aver- 

 ages. c As to Miss (I declare I forget her name) being bad,' I 

 find him writing, c people only mean that she has broken the 

 Decalogue which is not at all the same thing. People who 

 have kept in the high road of Life really have less opportunity 

 for taking a comprehensive view of it than those who have leaped 

 over the hedges and strayed up the hills ; not but what the hedges 

 are very necessary, and our stray travellers often have a weary 

 time of it. So, you may say, have those in the dusty roads. 



