was half so giddy as was I) have I swung in highly-coloured
car, worked by a man with a rope. I have trod in stately measure the
floor of Kensington's Town Hall (the tickets were a guinea each, and
included refreshments--when you could get to them through the crowd), and
on the green sward of the forest that borders eastern Anglia by the
oft-sung town of Epping I have performed quaint ceremonies in a ring; I
have mingled with the teeming hordes of Drury Lane on Boxing Night, and,
during the run of a high-class piece, I have sat in lonely grandeur in
the front row of the gallery, and wished that I had spent my shilling
instead in the Oriental halls of the Alhambra."

"There you are," said B., "that is just as good as yours; and you can
write like that without going more than a few hours' journey from
London."

"We will discuss the matter no further," I replied. "You cannot, I see,
enter into my feelings. The wild heart of the traveller does not throb
within your breast; you cannot understand his longings. No matter!
Suffice it that I will come this journey with you. I will buy a German
conversation book, and a check-suit, and a blue veil, and a white
umbrella, and suchlike necessities of the English tourist in Germany,
this very afternoon. When do you start?"

"Well," he said, "it is a good two days' journey. I propose to start on
Friday."

"Is not Friday rather an unlucky day to start on?" I suggested.

"Oh, good gracious!" he retorted quite sharply, "what rubbish next? As
if the affairs of Europe were going to be arranged by Providence
according to whether you and I start for an excursion on a Thursday or a
Friday!"

He said he was surprised that a man who could be so sensible,
occasionally, as myself, could have patience to even think of such
old-womanish nonsense. He said that years ago, when he was a silly boy,
he used to pay attention to this foolish superstition himself, and would
never upon any consideration start for a trip upon a Friday.

But, one year, he was compelled to do so. It was a case of either
starting on a Friday or not going at all, and he determined to chance it.

He went, prepared for and expecting a series of accidents and
misfortunes. To return home alive was the only bit of pleasure he hoped
for from that trip.

As it turned out, however, he had never had a more enjoyable holiday in
his life before. The whole event was a tremendous success.

And after that, he had made