At R——. Played the negligent flaneur, reclining on the Chesterfield, leaning against the grand piano, or measuring my length on the mat before the fire.
December 31.
To-morrow I begin duties at the British Museum of Natural History. I cannot quite imagine myself a Museum assistant. Before I get there I know I shall be the strangest assistant on the staff. It will be singing my song in a Strange land and weeping—I hope not too bitterly—down by the waters of a very queer Babylon.
Still, I have burnt my bridges like Cæsar—or burnt my ships like Cortez. So forward!
[1] See entry for October 8, 1913.
[2] Italics added 1917.
[3] The paper was "Distant Orientation in Batrachia"—detailing experiments on the homing faculty in newts.