He built the house himself, and when it was finished there was just one defect--it wanted a staircase.

They had to put in the staircase afterwards.

The picture gallery, however, had been seen to from the first, and the great writer had chalked on the walls, 'Mon Raffaelle,' 'Mon Correge,' 'Mon Titien,' 'Mon Leonard de Vinci,' the pictures being yet unattained.

He is said to have been a little loth to spend money, and to have liked to dine magnificently at the restaurant at the expense of his friends, forgetting to pay for his own share of the entertainment.

For the rest, the 'idee fixe' of the man was to be rich one day, and he threw his subtle imagination and vital poetry into pounds, shillings, and pence with such force that he worked the base element into spiritual splendours.