Page 26 (1/1)

A bookcase, old enough to warm the heart of the most ardent antiquarian, held his s side by side, on the saated, and the Holy Bible, side of sentimental love tales, Greek lexicons and quaint old fairy stories, law books and works on criy, anatomy, and physics In all, perhaps, there were two hundred volue There were three portraits of the Corsican on the dingy green walls

The strange character of the man was best shown by the pictures that adorned--or rather disfigured the walls Vulgar photographs and prints were to be seen on all sides Mingled with these cheap creations were excellent copies of fas of the Saviour, and an allegorical coloured print which emphasised the joys of heaven There was also a badly drawn but idealised portrait of Drooe of twenty This portrait was one of his prized possessions He loved it best because it was a bust and did not expose his longitudinal defects If Droom ever had entertained a feminine visitor in his apartments, there is no record of the fact But few one aith distressed, perplexed sensibilities

He cooked his own meals on the oil stove, and, alone, ate them from the little table that stood near the heater Occasionally, he went out to a near-by eating house for a lonely feast His rooms usually reeked with the odour of boiled coffee, burnt cabbage and grease, pungent che bed linen Of his "front" roo-room, parlour, library, workshop, laboratory and conservatory Four flower-pots in which as eraniums existed with difficulty, despite Droo care, occupied a conspicuous place on the -sills overlooking the street He watched aver the as it may appear when one pauses to consider the vicious exterior of the al He was, in truth, a miser If anyone had asked hi away in the bank, he could not have answered, calculating as he was by nature He had no relative to whoive up the habit of active eed to save more than half of it--for a "rainy day," as he said He did his reading and experiht, saving a few pennies a week in that way The s in his apartment ashed not oftener than once a year He was seldo the day, and their only duty at night was to provide ventilation--and even that was characteristically re