The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-02-05
THE INSOMNIA CLUB.

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elbow and looked very white in the moonlight.
She was sitting in a window and 1 in the
next one, but she was unaware of my pres
encc
Should speak to her? Our acquaintance
was really very slight. True, we had lived in
sEc same house for nearly year, but it was
lodging house, and the inhabitants strayed
out INTO the neighbOrhOOd for their susie
nance, thus lacking the common sorrow of
boarding house table 10 draw them together.
MISS CaVerly and exchanged greetings when
we met at the door or in the halls, but that
hardly justified rle in opening conversation
from my window to hers at o'clock in the
morning. Yet wanted to do it.
While was debating the question the lady
WAS leaning far out from her lofty perch
1t was the top story-and gazing upon the
moon.
Have a care, Miss Caveriy.' said I. cor
you'll fall out OF the window
Nothing could have been more likely to
preciptate such catastrophe than my sud-
den and startling remark but modern chival-
rous man vii! put lady to any amount of
Inconvenience for the sake Of seeming to per-
form service for her. However, in this in
stance no harm came Of it. The lady turned
about hastily. but without alarm
WHAT she cried. Another victim of in
sornia?''
Now, as a matter Of fact, I had just come
in and had made no attempt to sleep. but I
could not tell her that. 1t would have
spoiled conversation. So I said that sleep
refused to visit my pillow.
Sleeplessness is very distressing" she said,
with the air of one who had suffered much.
1 suggested that the night was too hot for
sleep, but she averred that she did not mind
hot weather. I might have had lot of fun
trying to find out what demon of the mind
was robbing this innocent child of her sum-
Der, but knock at my door interrupted me.
The visitor was Hallett Graves, another deni-
zen of the top floor, and he had come to bor-
row matches. Graves was likely to borrow
anything at any hour from any person and
equally ready to lend.
He said that he'd given I'D irving To S1eeD
and was going for walk with Mr. and Mrs.
Gale-also top floor people-who were in the
same difficulty.
THAT accounts for us ALL" said l. and then
I Informed Miss Caverly of the facts and
asked if, she would try the effect of a mid
night stroll with Mrs Gale for chaperon.
She agreed readily, and in a few minutes
we were all in the hall which was hotter than
an oven. depressed the belief that the street
wouldn't be much cooler, and then some one
suggested going to the roof.
Its no good said Graves; "but I'll tell
you what we might do. There's fire escape
balcony just outside my window and half
asdozen steps lead up from it to the roof of
the next@house. That's fine place to sit
What do you say?'
1t looked q good deal like burglary and
the ladies were timid. but the hall was too
hot to permit of long argument, and very
soon we fed to our neighbours roof.
At first we were afraid to speak above
whisper, and the creaking of metal plate
on the roof sounded like heavy artillery but
we grew holder. We brought some chairs
from, our rooms and made ouselves exceed
1ngly comfortable. By and by we even ven
trred to uplift our voices, very softly, in an
old familiar chorus, a melancholy strain that
seemed to make all of very blue.
When the song was ended, Gale, whom I
had long suspected of being hypochondriac
began to tell us how much he suffered from
insomnia and to describe the Intellectual at
tempts that he had made in the last four or
five years to bring sleep to his pillow. It ap-
pedred also that Graves, who was a healthy
looking young Englishman had only a wink
or two of sleep since the first Of the year
He admitted that he was in love- but
doubted that that accounted for the phenom-
enon. AS for Mrs Gale she simply could not
sleep at all. She believed tina. the locality
was unhealthful and intimated that Fifth
Avenue and its vicinity, especially if one
owned residence there, would probably solve
the problem Of slunber
Now, as a matter of fact, I slept better
than the average of my species, but have
q natural Discrimination to appear inexper-
fenced in matters that are under discussion
in a general company, so told few fanci-
full yarns that put within the pale of
sympathy, and I was very much gratiffed to
observe that they impressed Miss Caverly
This young woman, whose beauty as she
Eat there in the moonlight then appreciated
fer the first time, was the only one of us to
exhibit any reticence. This circumstance led
me to the conclusion that she was the only
one who really knew what insomnia was,
and I felt q strong curiosity regarding her
case. She seemed to be in good health and
could not believe that the childlike inno-
cence of her face was mask for any Weighty
secret, much less for any deep regret. It was
an interesting problem. 4e
We sat on that roof until o'clock in the
morning. ] do not know how the others
Jared during the remainder OF the night;
but, as for me, I slept like dead man and
when the servant walked me as usual at
~ 1o ty,poo fny1 cd oo1,r l.