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235
The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft
·
George Gissing
40
Sometimes
I
added
the
labour
of
a
porter
to
my
fasting
endured
for
the
sake
of
books.
At
the
little
shop
near
Portland
Road
Station
I
came
upon
a
first
edition
of
Gibbon,
the
price
an
absurdity--I
think
it
was
a
shilling
a
volume.
To
possess
those
clean-paged
quartos
I
would
have
sold
my
coat.
As
it
happened,
I
had
not
money
enough
with
me,
but
sufficient
at
home.
I
was
living
at
Islington.
Having
spoken
with
the
bookseller,
I
walked
home,
took
the
cash,
walked
back
again,
and--carried
the
tomes
from
the
west
end
of
Euston
Road
to
a
street
in
Islington
far
beyond
the
Angel.
I
did
it
in
two
journeys--this
being
the
only
time
in
my
life
when
I
thought
of
Gibbon
in
avoirdupois.
Twice--three
times,
reckoning
the
walk
for
the
money--did
I
descend
Euston
Road
and
climb
Pentonville
on
that
occasion.
Of
the
season
and
the
weather
I
have
no
recollection;
my
joy
in
the
purchase
I
had
made
drove
out
every
other
thought.
Except,
indeed,
of
the
weight.
I
had
infinite
energy,
but
not
much
muscular
strength,
and
the
end
of
the
last
journey
saw
me
upon
a
chair,
perspiring,
flaccid,
aching--exultant!
The
well-to-do
person
would
hear
this
story
with
astonishment.
Why
did
I
not
get
the
bookseller
to
send
me
the
volumes?
Or,
if
I
could
not
wait,
was
there
no
omnibus
along
that
London
highway?
How
could
I
make
the
well-to-do
person
understand
that
I
did
not
feel
able
to
afford,
that
day,
one
penny
more
than
I
had
spent
on
the
book?
No,
no,
such
labour-
saving
expenditure
did
not
come
within
my
scope;
whatever
I
enjoyed
I
earned
it,
literally,
by
the
sweat
of
my
brow.
In
those
days
I
hardly
knew
what
it
was
to
travel
by
omnibus.
I
have
walked
London
streets
for
twelve
and
fifteen
hours
together
without
ever
a
thought
of
saving
my
legs,
or
my
time,
by
paying
for
waftage.
Being
poor
as
poor
can
be,
there
were
certain
things
I
had
to
renounce,
and
this
was
one
of
them.
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