If he were dull,
he would write stories and poems. 'I have written,' he says at
thirteen, 'a very long story in heroic measure, 300 lines, and
another Scotch story and innumerable bits of poetry'; and at the
same age he had not only a keen feeling for scenery, but could do
something with his pen to call it up. I feel I do always less than
justice to the delightful memory of Captain Jenkin; but with a lad
of this character, cutting the teeth of his intelligence, he was
sure to fall into the background.
The family removed in 1847 to Paris, where Fleeming was put to
school under one Deluc. There he learned French, and (if the
captain is right) first began to show a taste for mathematics. But
a far more important teacher than Deluc was at hand; the year 1848,
so momentous for Europe, was momentous also for Fleeming's
character. The family politics were Liberal; Mrs. Jenkin, generous
before all things, was sure to be upon the side of exiles; and in
the house of a Paris friend of hers, Mrs.
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