The wink was not
thrown away; I went in up to the elbows with the manager, until I
think that some of the glory of that great man settled by reflection
upon me, and that I was as noticeably the second person in the
smoking-room as he was the first. For a young man, this was a
position of some distinction, I think you will admit. . . .
CHAPTER III - AN AUTUMN EFFECT - 1875
'Nous ne decrivons jamais mieux la nature que lorsque nous nous
efforcons d'exprimer sobrement et simplement l'impression que nous en
avons recue.' - M. ANDRE THEURIET, 'L'Automne dans les Bois,' Revue
des Deux Mondes, 1st Oct. 1874, p.562.
A COUNTRY rapidly passed through under favourable auspices may leave
upon us a unity of impression that would only be disturbed and
dissipated if we stayed longer. Clear vision goes with the quick
foot. Things fall for us into a sort of natural perspective when we
see them for a moment in going by; we generalise boldly and simply,
and are gone before the sun is overcast, before the rain falls,
before the season can steal like a dial-hand from his figure, before
the lights and shadows, shifting round towards nightfall, can show us
the other side of things, and belie what they showed us in the
morning.
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