ont was "the Laird," Aleco
Ionides "the Greek," and Rowley is supposed to have been "Taffy."[4]

In 1857 du Maurier went on to the Antwerp Academy, where the masters
were De Keyser and Van Lerins. It was in the latter's studio that the
disaster of his life occurred. He was drawing from a model, when
suddenly the girl's head seemed to him to dwindle to the size of a
walnut. He clapped his hand over his left eye, and wondered if he had
been mistaken. He could see as well as ever. But when in its turn he
covered his right eye he learned what had happened. His left eye had
failed him. It might be altogether lost. It grew worse, until the fear
of blindness overtook him. In the spring of 1859 he went to a specialist
in Dusseldorf, who, while deciding that the left eye was lost, said that
with care there was no reason to fear losing the other. Du Maurier was
never able to shake off the terror of apprehension. He was apparently a
hopeless invalid at Christmas-time in 1859, "in some dreary, deserted,
dismal Flemish town," in hospital. Turning over _Punch's Almanack_, the
delight the paper afforded him in such unhappy circumstances was "a
thing not to be forgotten." It fired him with a new ambitious dream. The
astonishing thing was that before another year was over the dream was
beginning to come true: he was in England, making friends with Keene,
who introduced him to John Leech, whom he was destined to succeed at
_Punch's_ table.

The artist left Antwerp in 1860, and for several months he and Whistler
lived together in Newman Street. Their studio has been described.
Stretched across it was a rope like a clothes-line, from which floated a
bit of brocade, their curtain to shut off the corner used as a bedroom.
There was hardly even a chair to sit on, and often with the brocade a
towel hung from the line.

Section 5

In the autumn of 1860 the artist began to contribute to _Once a Week_.
Then followed a contribution to _Punch_ for which he continued to draw
as an occasional contributor chiefly of initial letters and the like,
until he reached the stage of contributing regular "Pictures" with
legends beneath in 1864. It was not until 1865, however, that his full
pages in _Punch_ became frequent. In that year he succeeded Leech at the
_Punch_ table.

His career practically began with his marriage to Miss Emma Wightwick.
Following the example of his master, Thackeray, he courageously married
upon "prospects," as soon as ever t