reakfasted on a
little roll called a pistolet, and a cup of coffee; then the academy
again from nine till twelve--when dinner, the cheapest he had ever
known, but not the worst. Then work again all the afternoon, copying
old masters at the Gallery. Then a cheap supper, a long walk along
the quais or ramparts or outside--a game of dominoes, and a glass or
two of "Malines" or "Louvain"--then bed, without invading hordes;
the Flemish are as clean as the Dutch; and there he would soon smoke
and read himself to sleep in spite of chimes--which lull you, when
once you get "achimatized," as he called it, meaning of course to be
funny: a villainous kind of fun--caught, I fear, in Barge Yard,
Bucklersbury. It used to rain puns in the City--especially in the
Stock Exchange, which is close to Barge Yard.

It was a happy life, and he grew to like it better than any life he
had led yet; besides, he improved rapidly, as his facility was
great--for painting as for everything he tried his hand at.

He also had a very agreeable social existence.

One morning at the academy, two or three days after his arrival, he
was accosted by a fellow-student--one Tescheles--who introduced
himself as an old pupil of Troplong's in the Rue des Belges. They
had a long chat in French about the old Paris studio. Among other
things, Tescheles asked if there were still any English there.

"Oui"--says Barty--"un nomme Valteres"....

Barty pronounced this name as if it were French; and noticed that
Tescheles smiled, exclaiming:

"Parbleu, ce bon Valteres--je l'connais bien!"

Next day Tescheles came up to an English student called Fox and
said:

"Well, old stick-in-the-mud, how are _you_ getting on?"

"Why, you don't mean to say _you're_ an Englishman?" says Barty to
Tescheles.

[Illustration: PETER THE HERMIT AU PIQUET]

"Good heavens! you don't mean to say _you_ are! fancy your calling
poor old Walters _Valteres_!"

And after that they became very intimate, and that was a good thing
for Barty.

The polyglot Tescheles was of a famous musical family, of mixed
German and Russian origin, naturalized in England and domiciled in
France--a true cosmopolite and a wonderful linguist, besides being
also a cultivated musician and excellent painter; and all the
musicians, famous or otherwise, that passed through Antwerp made his
rooms a favorite resort and house of call. And Barty was introduced
into a world as delightful to him as it was new--and to m