Forde, a gentleman in a good way of business. It was a
fortunate partnership in this, that the parties retained their
mutual respect unlessened and separated with regret; but men's
affairs, like men, have their times of sickness, and by one of
these unaccountable variations, for hard upon ten years the
business was disappointing and the profits meagre. 'Inditing
drafts of German railways which will never get made': it is thus I
find Fleeming, not without a touch of bitterness, describe his
occupation. Even the patents hung fire at first. There was no
salary to rely on; children were coming and growing up; the
prospect was often anxious. In the days of his courtship, Fleeming
had written to Miss Austin a dissuasive picture of the trials of
poverty, assuring her these were no figments but truly bitter to
support; he told her this, he wrote, beforehand, so that when the
pinch came and she suffered, she should not be disappointed in
herself nor tempted to doubt her own magnanimity: a letter of
admirable wisdom and solicitude.
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