The Donaldsonville chief., 1912-01-13
Bruce / said after a moment.

Bruce" / said after moment.
| He opened his eyes and looked al
me vacantly, but made no reply. In
a general way attempted to console
him, but he only siaGok his head in 81
lence, and finding my efforts unre
Warded | finally abandoned them. Or.
.dering mild decoction for myself,
touched his glass and drank to the
| hope that better times might soon be
on the wing. He emptied his glass
without reply, and sank back into his
| detected posture. Five minutes later
he seemed to be half asleep, and |
| determined to take him bodily in
| hand. Not wishing to have him seen
In that condition by any friends who
might chance to enter, shook him
| into semblance of life Then ma
King him take my arm, assisted him
INTO the open air. Darkness had al
ready fallen and the lights OF the
skyscrapers were beginning to sparkle.
He lurched. heavily against ms, and
seeing that his condition was rapidly
becoming hopeless, signaled cab,
opened the door and thrust him In
side. He fell upon the seat, mutter-
ing some address to which he wished
to be taken and I turned to the 1ehu
who was propptng him up.
He will be all right in couple of
hours. At present he is not feeling
particularly well and should be taken
care Of, said significantly. The 9TH
er nodded his understanding Then
with brief instructions for him to
handle his charge right side up with
care, turned away as he picked up
the reins. =
formulated my own plans for the
evening. In my then state OF mind,
did not care to exert myself, prefer
ing to go where could sit quietly
and be entertained by others. l de-
clded upon the theater. A block fur
ther on I happened across a banking
acquaintance, who, upon my invita-
ton, joined me. At the end of the
performance we emerged 1t was now
in the neighborhood Of II o'clock, and,
shaking hands, we parted for the
night
Having thrown down my key to the
house, decided to stay downtown un-
til morning. Crossing the street, en-
tered the Pacific hotel | knew the
clerk at the desk, and saluting him by
name, asked him to assign me to q
room few floors up and fronting on
the alley, such location being quiet.
er In the early morning hours than
room facing the street. He gave me
the key and bell boy Immediately
showed me to my number.
Not being accustomed to retiring be-
fore II, was not in the least sleepy.
Leaving the light burning, I threw.
myself upon the bed as scene by scene
/ ran the film Of the events Of the day
before my mental eyes. And SO deep
ly did become engrossed in this that
when I arouse myself and looked at
my watch 1t was after midnight L
arose and stood before the mirror,
searching my own face keenly. my
mind still reyerting to my uuarreI
IuInrHs
consequences While did not inag-
inc that LII his present state Of mind
he would be particularly concerned as.
to where was, resolved to call him
up and advise him of my whereabouts.
1t did not seem that 1t could do any
harm. and undoubtedly 1t was good
policy to try and conciliate him now
that we had given full vent to our
spleen. Going to the wall telephone,
i asked for his number, and a moment.
later heard his querulous voice over
the wire as he demanded to know who
it was that called him at that
hour. / answered him with the quiet
ness always strove to employ ex-
cept upon rare occasions when I for
the moment lost command Of myself
] wished him well and told him where
was and that had decided to re-
main downtown for the night. His
answering sentences exploded in my
ear like distant firecrackers.
That's right. Just like you. Spend
ing your money for hotel bills when
you have better bed at home. And
/ suppose you will pay those pirates
a dollar for your breakfast. All right,