Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1890-05-24
CHAPTER I.
RAGS AND TATTERa.

how he did II. Some OF us have tried
1t and failed. We have struggled with
this nightmare even when our eyes
were open, and have not cast 1t of. In
varions shapes it haunts the shadows
of this world. Mr.. Drane, however,
awolIe; but before sending him our con-
CALCULATIONS let US sec what he found
waiting for him.
The first thing he saw on opening his
eyes was ragged coat which lay upon
his arm. 1t was garment eminently
qualified to DO offensive to q gentle
man; shiny, soiled and raveled at the
edges. Mr.. Drane blinked at it an in
slant and conc ded that 1t must DO a
part OF his recent troublesome fancies.
''Get out, he muttered, sleepily, shak-
ing the garment to the floor; you're q
fake. dreamed you, and I'm going to
wake up in minute"
No wonder he was deceived, for the
coat fitted the dream with diabolical &C
.curacy. u had not been vision Of
financial embarrassment alone; he had
seen himself walking on the uppers OF
disgrace over the rocky road Of despair.
His first waking impression had been
great thankfulness that he was him
self again, man Of wealth and consid-
eration; q gentleman by birth and
breeding. Then he had seen the ragged
coat and denied its reality.
He let his head fall upon the pillow
again and sank for o moment into
sleep. Then he awoke with start.
"Queer notion about that coat" he
said, and glanced over the edge Of the
bed. The coat was there. None Of its
fine points had got away. The summer
sunbeams round tho edges Of the cur
tains glinted upon its greasy wrist
bands and CLASSY sleeves. Mr.. Drane
sat upon the bed and stared stupidity at
the strange garment. The sight con-
fused him.
He tried to recall the events which
had preceded his sleep. He remembered
his journey eastward from his homo in
Kansas City; the business interests
which he had in charge; the hot, dusty,
tiresome ride which had brought him to
New York on his way to Boston. He
recalled how he had found himself so
tired that he had resolved to wait in
New York long enough to have Q good
nap in hotel; how he had entered the
first one he found, and had stumbled
:sleepily along in the wake Of the hall
boy to the room wherein he lay. Then
he had cast himself upon the bed after
removing only his outer clothing.
by the way" thought he, with sud
den start, ''where are my clothes /
should like to know"
How easy 1t Is to ask questions, and
how eternally hard it is to answer them.
Mr.. Drane's hasty but thorough search
of the apartment revealed no reply to
lis very natural query. He did not find
his clothes because they were not there,
but he did succeed in discovering q
waistcOat and pair Of pantaloons
which owned disgraceful kinship with
the coat.
"If were drinking man" he NUT
tered, in dire perplexity. II think that /
should find the motive for great refor-
nation somewhere in this affair"
At this moment he found himself con-
fronted by mirror, and as his own re-
Election met his eyes he couldn't help
being assailed by the idea that change
had come over his countenance which,
If it were not equal in extent to that
which had overtaken his clothes, was
yet in the same unfortunate direction.
OF course it was one of those crooked
hotel mirrors which so shockingly wreck
the features of their victims. Accord
ing to this veracious glass, Mr.. DraDe
had swelling on his right cheek, and
was afflicted with strabismus, erysipelas
and disordered liver, complicated with
q three-days' beard. None Of these per-
sonal charms had any real existence ex-
.cept tho beard, and that wasn't 80 bad
as it looked. In spite Of 1t, Mr.. Drane
was very goOd-looking young man; but
he couldn't see 1t in that glass.
"Jingo" he exclaimed, as he gazed
upon this optical monStrOsity. They've
stolen me along with my clothes.
must have assistance"
He turned to the annunciator and con-
suited the. directions for Ats use. First,
he rang once for the hall-bOy, but there
was no response. Then he gave three
jabs for ice-water. but 1t did not come.
Six for hack and seven for the police
were equally unproductive; and when
he had tried eleven for the FIRE depart
ment and twelve for an ambulance he
gave 1t up,
'1f they had given me permission to
ring thirteen times for the coroner I
should feel that i had done my full
duty" groaned Lawrence; and then he
laughed, it was all so absurd. He felt
in the pockets of the deplorable
clothes which had been left for him, but
he did not find their late wearer's name |
and address nor any other article q