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The one great obstacle that I have to contend against in the practice of my profession is not, as some persons may imagine, the difficulty of making my sitters keep their heads still while I paint them, but the difficulty of getting them to preserve the natural look and the every-day peculiarities of dress and manner. People will assume an expression, will brush up their hair, | The Traveller s Story of a Terribly Strange Bed Wilkie Collins DODO I WI PRESS PROLOGUE TO THE FIRST STORY Before I begin by the aid of my wife s patient attention and ready pen to relate any of the stories which I have heard at various times from persons whose likenesses I have been employed to take it will not be amiss if I try to secure the reader s interest in the following pages by briefly explaining how I became possessed of the narrative matter which they contain. Of myself I have nothing to say but that I have followed the profession of a travelling portrait-painter for the last fifteen years. The pursuit of my calling has not only led me all through England but has taken me twice to Scotland and once to Ireland. In moving from district to district I am never guided beforehand by any settled plan. Sometimes the letters of recommendation which I get from persons who are satisfied with the work I have done for them determine the direction in which I travel. Sometimes I hear of a new neighbourhood in which there is no resident artist of ability and remove thither on speculation. Sometimes my friends among the picturedealers say a good word on my behalf to their rich customers and so pave the way for me in the large towns. Sometimes my prosperous and famous brother artists hearing of small commissions which it is not worth their while to accept mention my name and procure me introductions to pleasant country houses. Thus I get on now in one way and now in another not winning a reputation or making a fortune but happier perhaps on the whole than many men who have .