He always spoke in a whisper, and with downcast eyes. He
handled everything as if it was about to annihilate him, or
he it, and looked as if he wouldn't bite - even a tartlet.
One day when I had finished my task, and we were alone, I
bethought me of making some laughing gas, and trying the
effect of it on the gentle youth. I offered him a shilling
for the experiment, which, however, proved more expensive
than I had bargained for. I filled a bladder with the gas,
and putting a bit of broken pipe-stem in its neck for a
mouthpiece, gave it to the boy to suck - and suck he did. In
a few seconds his eyes dilated, his face became lividly
white, and I had some trouble to tear the intoxicating
bladder from his clutches. The moment I had done so, the
true nature of the gutter-snipe exhibited itself. He began
by cutting flip-flaps and turning windmills all round the
room; then, before I could stop him, swept an armful of
valuable apparatus from the tables, till the whole floor was
strewn with wreck and poisonous solutions. The dismay of the
chemist when he returned may be more easily imagined than
described.
Some years ago, there was a well-known band of amateur
musicians called the 'Wandering Minstrels.' This band
originated in my rooms in Dean's Yard. Its nucleus was
composed of the following members: Seymour Egerton,
afterwards Lord Wilton, Sir Archibald Macdonald my brother-
in-law, Fred Clay, Bertie Mitford (the present Lord Redesdale
- perhaps the finest amateur cornet and trumpet player of the
day), and Lord Gerald Fitzgerald. Our concerts were given in
the Hanover Square Rooms, and we played for charities all
over the country.
To turn from the musical art to the art - or science is it
called? - of self-defence, once so patronised by the highest
fashion, there was at this time a famous pugilistic battle -
the last of the old kind - fought between the English
champion, Tom Sayers, and the American champion, Heenan.
Bertie Mitford and I agreed to go and see it.
The Wandering Minstrels had given a concert in the Hanover
Square Rooms. The fight was to take place on the following
morning. When the concert was over, Mitford and I went to
some public-house where the 'Ring' had assembled, and where
tickets were to be bought, and instructions received. Fights
when gloves were not used, and which, especially in this
case, might end fatally, were of course illegal; and every
precaution had been taken by the police to prevent it. A
special train was to leave London Bridge Station about 6 A.M.
We sat up all night in my room, and had to wait an hour in
the train before the men with their backers arrived. As soon
as it was daylight, we saw mounted police galloping on the
roads adjacent to the line.
