Page:The Story of the House of Cassell (book).djvu/83

 essentially adventurous, and he found it difficult to turn away from ideas even when they diverted much of his energy into by-ways and blind alleys.

Thus it was that in one of his frequent visits to Paris to attend to the Continental business of his firm, his eager mind caught at the commercial possibilities of petroleum. A new source of artificial light was coming into extensive use, and he saw in it princely fortunes for those who had the foresight to exploit it. He told his dreams to his partners, but failed to infect them with his enthusiasm, and finally they declined to join him in the enterprise. Undaunted, he went ahead alone, building distillation works at Hanwell, fitting up a miniature distillery at his house in Avenue Road, Regent's Park, and throwing himself energetically into the new venture.

But this time the sanguine temperament which had so often justified itself in his career betrayed him. In spite of all his efforts the venture failed, and though it did not involve financial embarrassment, it brought him some loss and much anxiety. Moreover, the demands which the two businesses together made upon his time and energy were excessive. He would be up in the morning long before anyone else in the house was astir, take a hurried breakfast prepared by himself, and be at the Hanwell works by the time the "hands" arrived. After hours of strenuous toil he would hurry off to Ludgate Hill, often leaving his lunch until late in the afternoon, when he would repair to a neighbouring coffee-house for a hasty meal. Then back to La Belle Sauvage to work, which, but for the petroleum, would have been done earlier in the day. This crowding of two days' work into one could not last. One who was associated with him in the business at Hanwell wrote long afterwards that there could be little doubt "that his closely continued application to this extraneous business, and the anxiety it entailed, were largely instrumental in causing his early decease." This may not actually have been so, for the cause of his death was an internal tumour, but it is certainly matter for