Diary of a Pilgrimage | Page 5

on the other side of the hedge, and never seemed to get any
nearer to us. I have chased the lodging-house Norfolk Howard to his
watery death by the pale lamp's light; I have, shivering, followed the
leaping flea o'er many a mile of pillow and sheet, by the great Atlantic's
margin. Round and round, till the heart--and not only the heart--grows
sick, and the mad brain whirls and reels, have I ridden the small, but
extremely hard, horse, that may, for a penny, be mounted amid the
plains of Peckham Rye; and high above the heads of the giddy throngs
of Barnet (though it is doubtful if anyone among them was half so
giddy as was I) have I swung in highly-coloured car, worked by a man
with a rope. I have trod in stately measure the floor of Kensington's
Town Hall (the tickets were a guinea each, and included
refreshments--when you could get to them through the crowd), and on
the green sward of the forest that borders eastern Anglia by the oft-sung
town of Epping I have performed quaint ceremonies in a ring; I have
mingled with the teeming hordes of Drury Lane on Boxing Night, and,
during the run of a high-class piece, I have sat in lonely grandeur in the
front row of the gallery, and wished that I had spent my shilling instead
in the Oriental halls of the Alhambra."
"There you are," said B., "that is just as good as yours; and you can
write like that without going more than a few hours' journey from

London."
"We will discuss the matter no further," I replied. "You cannot, I see,
enter into my feelings. The wild heart of the traveller does not throb
within your breast; you cannot understand his longings. No matter!
Suffice it that I will come this journey with you. I will buy a German
conversation book, and a check-suit, and a blue veil, and a white
umbrella, and suchlike necessities of the English tourist in Germany,
this very afternoon. When do you start?"
"Well," he said, "it is a good two days' journey. I propose to start on
Friday."
"Is not Friday rather an unlucky day to start on?" I suggested.
"Oh, good gracious!" he retorted quite sharply, "what rubbish next? As
if the affairs of Europe were going to be arranged by Providence
according to whether you and I start for an excursion on a Thursday or
a Friday!"
He said he was surprised that a man who could be so sensible,
occasionally, as myself, could have patience to even think of such
old-womanish nonsense. He said that years ago, when he was a silly
boy, he used to pay attention to this foolish superstition himself, and
would never upon any consideration start for a trip upon a Friday.
But, one year, he was compelled to do so. It was a case of either
starting on a Friday or not going at all, and he determined to chance it.
He went, prepared for and expecting a series of accidents and
misfortunes. To return home alive was the only bit of pleasure he
hoped for from that trip.
As it turned out, however, he had never had a more enjoyable holiday
in his life before. The whole event was a tremendous success.
And after that, he had made up his mind to ALWAYS start on a Friday;
and he always did, and always had a good time.
He said that he would never, upon any consideration, start for a trip
upon any other day but a Friday now. It was so absurd, this superstition
about Friday.
So we agreed to start on the Friday, and I am to meet him at Victoria
Station at a quarter to eight in the evening.

THURSDAY, 22ND

The Question of Luggage.--First Friend's Suggestion.--Second Friend's
Suggestion.--Third Friend's Suggestion.--Mrs. Briggs' Advice.--Our
Vicar's Advice.--His Wife's Advice.--Medical Advice.-- Literary
Advice.--George's Recommendation.--My Sister-in-Law's
Help.--Young Smith's Counsel.--My Own Ideas.--B.'s Idea.
I have been a good deal worried to-day about the question of what
luggage to take with me. I met a man this morning, and he said:
"Oh, if you are going to Ober-Ammergau, mind you take plenty of
warm clothing with you. You'll need all your winter things up there."
He said that a friend of his had gone up there some years ago, and had
not taken enough warm things with him, and had caught a chill there,
and had come home and died. He said:
"You be guided by me, and take plenty of warm things with you."
I met another man later on, and he said:
"I hear you are going abroad. Now, tell me, what part of Europe are
you going to?"
I replied that I thought it was somewhere about the middle. He said: