CLEARS UP MY MYSTERIOUS BEHAVIOUR OF THE LAST CHAPTER
What a sane man should be doing carrying about with him a woman's
petticoat and silk stockings, may well be a puzzle to the most
intelligent reader.
Whim, sir, whim! and few human actions admit of more satisfactory
solution. Like Shylock, I'll say "It is my humour." But no! I'll be
more explanatory. This madcap quest of mine, was it not understood
between us from the beginning to be a fantastic whim, a poetical
wild-goose chase, conceived entirely as an excuse for being some time
in each other's company? To be whimsical, therefore, in pursuit of a
whim, fanciful in the chase of a fancy, is surely but to maintain the
spirit of the game. Now, for the purpose, therefore, of a romance that
makes no pretence to reasonableness, I had very good reasons for buying
that petticoat, which (the reasons, not the petticoat) I will now lay
before you.
I have been conscious all the way along through this pilgrimage of its
inevitable vagueness of direction, of my need of something definite,
some place, some name, anything at all, however slight, which I might
associate, if only for a time, with the object of my quest, a definite
something to seek, a definite goal for my feet.
Now, when I saw that mysterious petticoat, and realised that its wearer
would probably be pretty and young and generally charming, and that
probably her name was somewhere on the waistband, the spirit of whim
rejoiced within me. "Why not," it said, "buy the petticoat, find out
the name of its owner, and, instead of seeking a vague Golden Girl,
make up your mind doggedly to find and marry her, or, failing that,
carry the petticoat with you, as a sort of Cinderella's slipper, try it
on any girl you happen to fancy, and marry her it exactly fits?"
Now, I confess, that seemed to me quite a pretty idea, and I hope the
reader will think so too. If not, I'm afraid I can offer him no better
explanation; and in fact I am all impatience to open my knapsack, and
inform myself of the name of her to the discovery of whom my wanderings
are henceforth to be devoted.