彼の晩年,私達は -つまり彼と私の妻と私の3人は- 夕食後よく一緒に,ロンドン市内を散歩した。私達がクリストファー・レン(Christopher Wren, 1632-1723: 英国の建築家)によって再建された聖クレメント・デーンズ教会(St Clement Danes:The Strand London WC2 にあり/ 右写真)を通り過ぎる時、腕を組んで歩いていなかったときは,そこへ来るといつも私達の腕をつかまえ、クロムプトンはよく,彼の好きな眺めの1つである,鮮やかな白みがかった青色の夜空(注:glowing blue/右欄画像=PCラック内部)に向かってぼんやりとそびえ立つ尖塔を見上げるよう,注意をうながした。
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In his last years we often walked together in London after dinner, he and my wife and I. Crompton would take our arms, if he were not holding them already, as we passed Wren's church of St Clement Danes, to remind us to look up at one of his favourite sights, the spire standing out dimly against the glowing blue of the evening sky. On these walks he would sometimes get into conversation with people that we met. I remember him engaging a park-keeper in an earnest discussion, perhaps of land values. The park-keeper was at first determined to remember both his class and his official position, and treated Crompton with respectful disapproval. Strangers ought not to be so ready to talk to strangers, gentlemen should not be so easy with workingmen, and no one should talk to officials on duty. But this stiffness soon melted. Crompton was truly democratic. He always spoke to his clerks or his servants with the same tone that he would have used to an important person such as one of the Indian Rajahs whose affairs he handled, and his manner in a two-roomed Irish cabin was exactly the same as in a party of celebrities. I remember with what grave courtesy he rose to bow and shake hands with our parlourmaid, on hearing that she came from the same district as his family. |