Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1894-02-02

| SPARED of, and when at last came TO
myself and became convalescent |
was SO weak and emaciated that a
| medical board determined that not a
dav should be lost in sending me back
| to England. | was dispatched, accord
dinghy, in the troop-ship Orontes, and
| landed month later on Portsmouth
| ietty, with my health irretrievably
| ruined, but with permission from pa
| ternal government to spend the next
| nine months in attempting to i'm
| prove it.
| had neither kith nor kin in Eng
land. and was therefore as free as air
| or as free as an income of eleven
shillings and sixpence a day will per-
| init man to be. Under such circum-
stances | naturally gravitated to Lon
| don, that great cesspool into which
| all the loungers and idlers of the en-
| pire are irresistibly drained There
| / STAYED for some time at a private
] hotel in the Strand, leading a COM
| fortress, meaningless existence, and
spending such money as | had con-
| siderably more freely than | ought.
| So alarming did the state ofmy finances
| become that soon realized that must
| either leave the metropolis and rusti-
| cate somewhere in the country, or that
| must make complete alteration in
| nv style of living Choosing the lat
ter alternative. began by making up
nv mind to leave the hotel. and tc
take up my quarters in some less pre-
tentious and less expensive domicile.
On the very day that had come to
this conclusion, was standing at the
| Criterion bar when some one tapped
me on the shoulder, and turning
round recognized young Stamford,
who had been dresser under me a,
Bart's. The sight of friendly face
in the great wilderness of London is a
pleasant thing indeed to a lonely man.
In old days Stamford had never been
q particular crony of mine, but now
hailed him with enthusiasm, and he
in turn, appeared to be delighted to see
me. In the exuberance of my joy
asked him to lunch with me at tie
J Holborn, and we started off together il
a hanson.
whatever have you been doing
with yourself. Watson?" he asked, il
undisguised wonder. as we ratified
through the crowded London streats
"You are as thin as lath and as brown
rs nut"
gave hum short sketch of my ad
ventures, and had hardly concluded il
by the time that we reached our des'
tination.
"Poor devil" he said, commiserating-
ly, after he had listened to my misfor
tunes. What are you up to now?"
Looking for lodgings" answered
"Trying to solve the problem as tc
whether it is possible to get comforta
BILE rooms at reasonable price"
/. That's a strange thing" remarked
my companion; you are the secont
man to-day that has used that expires
sion to me-"
"And who was the first?'' l asked.
"A fellow who is working at the
chemical laboratory up at the hospital
He was bemoaning himself this morn
ing because he could not get some one
TO go halves with him in some nict
rooms which he had found, and which
were too much for his purse"
by Jove! cried; 'if he really wants
some one to share the rooms and the
expense, am the very man for him
/ should prefer having a partner TO be
ing alone"
Young Stanford looked rathe.
strangely at me over his wineglass.
''You don't know Sherlock Holmes
yet" he said; perhaps you would no
care for him as constant companion.
''Why, what is there against him?"
"Oh, | didn't say there was any
thing against him. He is little quee
in his ideas-an enthusiast in somt
branches Of sgiaacs: A. fur es ] lTgw