He had been persuaded by a college friend, a member of one of the
great banking families, to call in his colonial mortgages and to put
the money into several new companies. He was going to make thirty
or forty per cent instead of only ten. One of these companies was a
Canadian undertaking, of which he became a director; it was
necessary for someone to go to headquarters and investigate its
affairs; he went, and was much occupied by the business for two or
three years. By the beginning of 1876 he had returned finally to
London, but most of his money was lost and his financial position
for the next ten years caused him very serious anxiety. His
personal expenditure was already so low that it was hardly possible
to reduce it, and he set to work at his profession more
industriously than ever, hoping to paint something that he could
sell, his spare time being occupied with Life and Habit, which was
the subject that really interested him more deeply than any other.
Following his letter in the Press, wherein he had seen machines as
in process of becoming animate, he went on to regard them as living
organs and limbs which we had made outside ourselves.
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