The Portland daily press., 1880-09-18

another footstep coming up the stairs
think | shall be able to speak this time, for
have somehow twisted myself so that my
mouth is just opposite to the letter slit. All!
l thought so; it is the late postman | am
just about to speak to him when he posts
peculiarly hard newspaper almost into my
mouth. OF course it will not pass through,
whereupon he gives 1t savage dive, and
and says, Yah! go in, yer beastr' and
leaves it sticking in the slit 1t is all very
well, but this inconsiderate postman has
not only made my gums bleed, but he has
entirely stopped up the aperture whence /
obtain my supply of fresh air. | can
not reach as high as this with my hands. so
have no resource left but to nibble the
newspaper off, bit by bit: and this is no easv
matter to do with your front teeth all loos.
ened. But it is a matter of life and death
once stop up my supply of fresh air. knew.
in my enfeebled condition, that / should
soon collapse altogether. So / nibbIed away
at the paper; it gave me some amusement.
and dare say derived considerable nutri-
ment from the size contained therein, albeit
| love not the flavor of printers ink.
With great eXertion and with feeling of
faint eXultion, l managed gradually to chew
QulSDy's newspaper all to pieces, and once
more establish current of fresh air through
the letter-slit. 1t was cold, chilly night air
that came through. Everything was silent
except the chimes of the neighboring clocks.
MY reason was too far gone to count them,
but L knew from the feeling of the atmos-
phere that it must be far into the middle of
The night, and that / must have been at
~ork on that miserable newspaper many
hours. There was deathly chilliness com
ing over my forehead; my brain felt Or fire;
my feet were icy cold; had spins and need
les" down my back, and cramp in my left
arm. felt painfully wakeful, and yet oc-
casionally dozed off into delirious dreams
1 dreamed l was being crushed in one of the
old torture chambers of Venice; dreamed
had been bound up as book, and was so
afraid that some one would attempt to eat
the leaves; | dreamed l had been "put TO
bed IN printing press, and was fearful
some one might want to take pull before l
was quite level; l dreamed was pinned out
as an chronological specimen by the King
OF Brobdingnag; l dreamed that had been
squashed as a black-beetle by the Queen Il
the same country; that my back was a
rough deal board, and that somebody was
going TO plane it; that Quisby, laden with
my uncle's gold, was dancing mad sara
band on my PROSTATE body When l awak-
ened from these dreams it was only to find
my heart beating like the hammers of busy
ship yard, my tongue hanging out of nv
mouth and my hands almost paralyzed. At
last my heart seemed to stop altogether; my
head swan; l had no feeling left; 1 seemed
to float out through the letter-slit; 1 thought
heard rafting of keys; fancied saw
flash of daylight; am certain heard some
one say "Loramussyp' and / remember no
more.
Many, many weeks afterwards | awoke.
came to myself in the Charing Cross hos
pital. Since tripped up the stairs to Outs
bys SO blithely two months ago, | had be-
come quite an old man. was gray, bag
gard, battered, and dilapidated; and l could
still feel the impression of the woodwork of
Quisbys internal door all down my back.
was informed that 1 was not discovered
till late on the Wednesday which was to
have been my wedding-day. The old laun-
dress, coming to clean the chambers, had
opened the door with her own key; 1 had
fallen, nearly killing her with my weight,
and frightening her almost to death l had
yet to hear the worst of my position. Outs
by had bolted with the whole of my uncle's
property; he had converted everything into
cash, and no trace could be found of him.
Pets papa looked upon me in the light of a
swindler, and Pet herself is married to
somebody else, as she absolutely refused to
wed man who was not only beggar, but
who was "Grained for Life'