"Your friend, Mr. Beamish, whom I had met at your house, came here under pretext of seeing your sons, but called upon me, and asked point-blank if I would give him my help in a charitable deed of some importance. 'What is the nature of the deed?' was my first question. 'The salvation of a soul.' 'In what form?' I did not get a direct answer, but I was told that the idea had sprung from religious motives, and that knowing my strong attachment to religion—though it was the Roman Catholic religion—he hoped I should have sufficient moral courage to help him in his deed of mercy—in fact he had resolved to reclaim a fallen woman. Vainly did I attempt to turn him from his generous but impracticable resolution. He threatened to act alone if I refused him the sanction of my presence, but he hoped that the Aumônier would see his action in its true light, and putting himself above popular suspicion, would accompany him 'to the very den of sin to offer salvation to a lost but repentant sheep.' It was useless to try to make him understand that it was impossible for the Aumônier to risk his character, even with the hope of doing good, and at last Mr. Beamish expressed a desire to meet him in my presence on the morrow. Our worthy Aumônier was horrified at the idea of the kind of sinners he would have to meet, and declined to have anything to do with the wildly charitable scheme."
The next news was brought to Autun four days later by the woman whom poor Mr. Beamish thought he had rescued at the cost of four hundred francs for her liberation from debt, and about two hundred more for decent clothing. He had taken her as far as Dijon, where he had left her in some kind of reformatory; but after enjoying the change, and with her purse replenished to carry her through the first difficulties of an honest life, she hastened back to the old haunt to gibe and jeer at her benefactor.
Another queer visitor was an English gentleman, past middle age, who could never find his way back to our house, but invariably appeared at meal-times in the dining-room of some neighbor, who had to escort him to Pré-Charmoy.
The opening of the Academy exhibition had come round again, and Mr. Hamerton had to go and criticise it as usual; but after reaching Amiens, he felt so poorly that he resolved to send his resignation to the "Saturday Review," and to return home as quickly as he could. Here is his letter to me:—
"HÔTEL DU NORD, AMIENS. Dimanche.
"Bonne chérie.—Je suis arrivé à Amiens samedi matin de bonne heure, ayant l'intention de me reposer un peu à l'hôtel et puis de continuer mon voyage le tantôt, mais en me levant j'ai senti que j'avais besoin d'un repos un peu plus prolongé après les fatigues de Paris. Le plus ennuyeux c'est que je peux à peine manger quelque chose. Comme ce manque d'appétit m'affaiblera inévitablement s'il continue longtemps et que l'affaiblissement amènerait probablement un mauvais état du système nerveux, je crois que le plus sage serait de renoncer pour cette fois au voyage en Angleterre et de revenir au Pré-Charmoy comme un faux billet indigne de circuler. Mon intention est donc de retourner, et pour changer je prendrai probablement la ligne de Dijon, en m'arrêtant un jour à Sens pour voir Challard. [An artist who had copied some drawings of Jean Cousin for the "Fine Arts Quarterly Review.">[
"Comme je te l'ai promis, je fais ce qui me semble être le plus sage. Je reviendrai le plus vite que je pourrai sans hasarder ma santé.
"J'ai loué un petit bateau hier avec lequel j'ai exploré la rivière d'Amiens—la Somme—en haut de la ville. Il est impossible d'imaginer rien de plus pittoresque. Il y a une grande quantité de petites maisons et baraques au bord de l'eau et je vais prendre là le matériel d'une eau-forte. J'espère que cette retraite n'est pas trop ridicule. Un bon général, dit-on, se distingue tout autant dans la retraite que dans l'avance; et comme par le fait il y a manque de vivres—puisque je ne peux pas manger—il me semble que la prudence conseille ce que les Américains appelaient 'un mouvement stratégique' quand ils avaient été battus."
"AMIENS. Lundi matin.
"Comme je n'avais pas encore regagné d'appétit hier j'ai pensé qu'il serait plus sage de rester ici encore un peu et je suis allé canoter sur la rivière.