nded" Noah if he had got hold of him.

He was a good-natured lad, and at school he was always willing for the
whole class to copy from his slate--indeed he would urge them to do so.
He meant it kindly, but inasmuch as his answers were invariably quite
wrong--with a distinctive and inimitable wrongness peculiar to
himself--the result to his followers was eminently unsatisfactory; and
with the shallowness of youth that, ignoring motives, judges solely from
results, they would wait for him outside and punch him.

All his energies went to the instruction of others, leaving none for his
own purposes. He would take callow youths to his chambers and teach them
to box.

"Now, try and hit me on the nose," he would say, standing before them in
an attitude of defence. "Don't be afraid. Hit as hard as ever you can."

And they would do it. And so soon as he had recovered from his surprise,
and a little lessened the bleeding, he would explain to them how they had
done it all wrong, and how easily he could have stopped the blow if they
had only hit him properly.

Twice at golf he lamed himself for over a week, showing a novice how to
"drive"; and at cricket on one occasion I remember seeing his middle
stump go down like a ninepin just as he was explaining to the bowler how
to get the balls in straight. After which he had a long argument with
the umpire as to whether he was in or out.

He has been known, during a stormy Channel passage, to rush excitedly
upon the bridge in order to inform the captain that he had "just seen a
light about two miles away to the left"; and if he is on the top of an
omnibus he generally sits beside the driver, and points out to him the
various obstacles likely to impede their progress.

It was upon an omnibus that my own personal acquaintanceship with him
began. I was sitting behind two ladies when the conductor came up to
collect fares. One of them handed him a sixpence telling him to take to
Piccadilly Circus, which was twopence.

"No," said the other lady to her friend, handing the man a shilling, "I
owe you sixpence, you give me fourpence and I'll pay for the two."

The conductor took the shilling, punched two twopenny tickets, and then
stood trying to think it out.

"That's right," said the lady who had spoken last, "give my friend
fourpence."

The conductor did so.

"Now you give that fourpence to me."

The friend handed it to her.

"And you," she concluded to the conductor, "g