But the whole cost of the work was set
down at 30,000 pounds! A costlier work it would be hard to
find; I wonder how many of us have seen it?
But I must go back to my subject. I was not in Bath just to
die and lie there, like poor Sibthorpe, with all those strange
bedfellows of his, nor was I in search of a vacant space the
size of my hand on the walls to bespeak it for my own
memorial. On the contrary, I was there, as we have seen, to
knock five years off my age. And it was very pleasant, as I
have said, so long as I confined my attention to Bath, the
stone-built town of old memories and associations--so long as
I was satisfied to loiter in the streets and wide green places
and in the Pump Room and the abbey. The bitter came in only
when, going from places to faces, I began to seek out the
friends and acquaintances of former days. The familiar faces
seemed not wholly familiar now. A change had been wrought; in
some cases a great change, as in that of some weedy girl who
had blossomed into fair womanhood. One could not grieve at
that; but in the middle-aged and those who were verging on or
past that period, it was impossible not to feel saddened at
the difference. "I see no change in you," is a lie ready to
the lips which would speak some pleasing thing, but it does
not quite convince. Men are naturally brutal, and use no
compliments to one another; on the contrary, they do not
hesitate to make a joke of wrinkles and grey hairs--their own
and yours.
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