Thank Heaven! Shackleton accepted, in spite of all his engagements, consequent on having just returned from the South Pole.
What an escape, but still it was a great compliment.
Here is a jotting that was pencilled down warm from the heart. As it stands, I give it, with its date, May 14th, 1909:
I do not know when I have been so pleased as at a little episode which happened yesterday.
It chanced a couple of years ago that I was able to help, encourage, and sympathise with a young man at a very trying time, and I laughingly told him I should not be satisfied till he had started again, and put by a thousand pounds. He scoffed at the idea of a thousand pounds as impossible, and wondered if he ever could begin life afresh.
Yesterday he walked in and said, “I have come to tell you that through your encouragement I have worked hard for the last two years, and have done what I thought then impossible. I have not only lived, but saved a thousand pounds, and in remembrance of this success, which is entirely due to you, I have brought you a little souvenir. It has taken me months to find anything quaint and old, such as I thought would really give you pleasure.”
Now, was not that perfectly delightful? He has, indeed, given me pleasure, and added to that his gift is quite charming. It is an old-fashioned pendant, set with beryls, that formerly prized pale blue stone.
Amongst the many disappointments one has in life, such success as this inspires one to fresh efforts.