room in order to be free to talk in some seclusion. After half an
hour or so I asked him to lunch next day at _The Cafe Royal_, then the
best restaurant in London.
At this time he was a superb talker, more brilliant than any I have
ever heard in England, but nothing like what he became later. His talk
soon made me forget his repellant physical peculiarities; indeed I
soon lost sight of them so completely that I have wondered since how I
could have been so disagreeably affected by them at first sight. There
was an extraordinary physical vivacity and geniality in the man, an
extraordinary charm in his gaiety, and lightning-quick intelligence.
His enthusiasms, too, were infectious. Every mental question
interested him, especially if it had anything to do with art or
literature. His whole face lit up as he spoke and one saw nothing but
his soulful eyes, heard nothing but his musical tenor voice; he was
indeed what the French call a _charmeur_.
In ten minutes I confessed to myself that I liked him, and his talk
was intensely quickening. He had something unexpected to say on almost
every subject. His mind was agile and powerful and he took a delight
in using it. He was well-read too, in several languages, especially in
French, and his excellent memory stood him in good stead. Even when
he merely reproduced what the great writers had said perfectly, he
added a new colouring. And already his characteristic humour was
beginning to illumine every topic with lambent flashes.
It was at our first lunch, I think, that he told me he had been asked
by Harper's to write a book of one hundred thousand words and offered
a large sum for it--I think some five thousand dollars--in advance. He
wrote to them gravely that there were not one hundred thousand words
in English, so he could not undertake the work, and laughed merrily
like a child at the cheeky reproof.
"I have sent their letters and my reply to the press," he added, and
laughed again, while probing me with inquisitive eyes: how far did I
understand the need of self-advertisement?
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