DOI article:
James, Henry: The next time
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.27805#0054
The Next Time
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precipice admired of tourists. The public, in other words, drew
the line for him as sharply as he had drawn it for Minnie Meadows.
Minnie had skipped with a flouncing caper over his line, however ;
whereas the mark traced by a lustier cudgel had been a barrier in-
surmountable to Limbert. Those next times I had spoken of to
Jane Highmore, I see them simplified by retrocession. Again and
again he made his desperate bid—again and again he tried to. His
rupture with Mr. Bousefield caused him, I fear, in professional
circles, to be thought impracticable, and I am perfectly aware, to
speak candidly, that no sordid advantage ever accrued to him from
such public patronage of my performancesas he had occasionally been
in a position to offer. I reflect for my comfort that any injury I
may have done him by untimely application of a faculty of analysis
which could point to no converts gained by honourable exercise
was at least equalled by the injury he did himself. More than once,
as I have hinted, I held my tongue at his request, but my frequent
plea that such favours weren’t politic never found him, when in
other connections there was an opportunity to give me a lift, any-
thing but indifferent to the danger of the association. He let them
have me, in a word, whenever he could ; sometimes in periodicals
in which he had credit, sometimes only at dinner. He talked
about me when he couldn’t get me in, but it was always part of the
bargain that I shouldn’t make him a topic. “ How can I success-
fully serve you if you do i1 ” he used to ask : he was more afraid than
I thought he ought to have been of the charge of tit for tat. I
didn’t care, and I never could distinguish tat from tit; but, as 1
have intimated, I dropped into silence really more than anything
else because there was a certain fascinated observation of his course
which was quite testimony enough and to which, in this huddled
conclusion of it, he practically reduced me.
I see it all foreshortened, his wonderful remainder—see it from
the
5°
precipice admired of tourists. The public, in other words, drew
the line for him as sharply as he had drawn it for Minnie Meadows.
Minnie had skipped with a flouncing caper over his line, however ;
whereas the mark traced by a lustier cudgel had been a barrier in-
surmountable to Limbert. Those next times I had spoken of to
Jane Highmore, I see them simplified by retrocession. Again and
again he made his desperate bid—again and again he tried to. His
rupture with Mr. Bousefield caused him, I fear, in professional
circles, to be thought impracticable, and I am perfectly aware, to
speak candidly, that no sordid advantage ever accrued to him from
such public patronage of my performancesas he had occasionally been
in a position to offer. I reflect for my comfort that any injury I
may have done him by untimely application of a faculty of analysis
which could point to no converts gained by honourable exercise
was at least equalled by the injury he did himself. More than once,
as I have hinted, I held my tongue at his request, but my frequent
plea that such favours weren’t politic never found him, when in
other connections there was an opportunity to give me a lift, any-
thing but indifferent to the danger of the association. He let them
have me, in a word, whenever he could ; sometimes in periodicals
in which he had credit, sometimes only at dinner. He talked
about me when he couldn’t get me in, but it was always part of the
bargain that I shouldn’t make him a topic. “ How can I success-
fully serve you if you do i1 ” he used to ask : he was more afraid than
I thought he ought to have been of the charge of tit for tat. I
didn’t care, and I never could distinguish tat from tit; but, as 1
have intimated, I dropped into silence really more than anything
else because there was a certain fascinated observation of his course
which was quite testimony enough and to which, in this huddled
conclusion of it, he practically reduced me.
I see it all foreshortened, his wonderful remainder—see it from
the