Borden, of course, who often looked dour in public but in private he was known to reveal his excellent sense of humour. This comes out in the note to file Borden made about MacGillivray.

Sir Robert Borden: John is a young man of interesting personality, of highly nervous temperament, well-read in English literature, equipped with extremely strong opinions and confident views, and very casual in the everyday affairs of life. In addition, he has a fine sense of humour and thoroughly enjoys relating incidents which tell strongly against himself.

While working in England last summer, he was painting a landscape in a pasture where cows congregated. Returning one day after luncheon, he found that they had swallowed all his paints and that one enterprising animal had licked all the paint off the canvas upon which he had been working for several days.

Then there was an account of locking himself out of his bedroom in an apartment house in New York, so that he was obliged to ascend to the next story and, descending by the fire-escape, enter his room through the window, which fortunately was open.

While painting my portrait, he emerged from the Laurentian Club [in Ottawa] one night, in very scanty attire, for the purpose of making inquiry as to a fire alarm. At the time, the thermometer registered about 15 below zero; and he discovered that the door had locked itself behind him. Having made loud outcry, he eventually received a key lowered from a third-story window by a benevolent soul who seems to have made a practice of admitting belated revellers.

John lives for the most part in dreamland; but he seems thoroughly unconscious of this characteristic which, however, he observes in his sister, Mary, wife of David MacKeen. His description of Mary's preoccupation with art, and of David's helplessness in relation to household arrangements was very amusing.

After practically finishing my portrait, he went to Toronto where he painted the portrait of Sir Robert Falconer for presentation to Pine Hill Theological College at Halifax. He expected to leave Ottawa on a Friday but various aberrations delayed his departure until about the following Wednesday.

Unfortunately, his physique is not very strong; and he does not know how to care for himself. I bestowed upon him much good advice which probably had as much effect as if delivered to empty air on the banks of the Rideau River. If his health improves, it is almost certain that he will make his mark as a portrait painter. He is gifted with unusual power of graphic description.

After returning from Toronto, he said, in response to inquiry as to his lodging, 'I am still at the ante-chamber of Death.’ He thus designated the Laurentian Club where he had met several elderly residents who impressed him as of an extremely fossilized type.