Evening star., 1913-12-02
THE EVENING STORY.
ON THE STAIRS.
BY GUY THoRNE.

BY GUY THoRNE.
The young man In evening dress seemed
oddly out OF place In the little old-fash-
ioned bar OF "The Stilton Cheese"
The floor was saIided. the appointments
were homely. and two very dilapidated-
looking persons were leaning over the
maid who had none OF the seductions OF
youth or beauty.
The young man in evening dress was
a person who had a mania for collecting
odd scraps OF life He was rich and had
vague sort OF way q great book to be
written some day by him. II was to be
called "F1otsam and Jetsam," and IL WAS
to contain records OF his experiences
among the side scenes Of life.
He loved to dive into odd, unknown
places, to make friends with the inhab-
itants to learn something of the history
of their lives. Then he would go back
to his beautiful fiat at the Piccadilly end
Of Park lane, have a bath, change into
in the great silver bound book upon his
writing table and go to bed. feeling he
had learned something new and was pro-
crossing toward his aim.
OF THE Stilton Cheese" talking to an
odd-looking, elderly. bearded man.
The elderly man was In the last de-
gree OF shabby gentility. His large, ex.
pressive face was pimpied and flushed
with odd shades OF color. His voice was
the voice of gentleman, his accent that
Of gentleman also. Before him smoked
a mixture Of rum and lemon in large,
thick glass.
"Oh. of course said the bearded man.
r,~d Hfnex 1,se lrfn .,,,1 In O N
excellent cigar proffered him by the
young gentleman in evening dress. "Oh,
OF course. it is simply drink that brings
you here. You cannot possibly neaiize
the strange condolences. the curiosities
of life. which are-brought about by drink.
Now. let me tell You little experience OF
my own. Do / bore your"
The rich young man made depreca-
tory motion of his hand. He was in
tensely interested. He merely nodded to
seedy mans glass.
well, will tell you, them" the seedy
man continued. after left the univer-
sity = Oxford or Cambridge. 1t doesn't
come to me pretty lavishly. I had not
spent 1t all when my people came to me
and urged me to cure myself Of lifting
my elbow. 1t is heredity with me- sir,
and l was pretty far gone when my
mother made her appeal. i had not lost
all sense Of decency then: 1 realized the
way / was going and l agreed to do
what she wished.
Accordingly, signed my liberty away
for year. was to pay f3OO and go
neighborhood of Richmond. I won't par
ticularize. but 1t was a well known place
in those days. Probably it is now: 1
don't know and / am sure / don't care"
He lifted his second glass Of rum hot
to his lips, took deep draught with q
CofISfanfinn 0nfflad himQalf
his chair and continued: Il arrived one
afternoon with my luggage. / was re-
ceived by the presiding doctor, dapper
little Scotsman called Stewart; my lug
there 1 was in the home. prisoner Of
my own free will. The cab that had
brought me rolled away down the drive.
the big iron gates were opened by the
porter, changed together. and there /
was! I was dressing for dinner when
there was a knock at the door of my
bedroom. Come in said. and upon
the word. tall. thin man entered. He
was already in evening clothes.
vhass yoapa he toia saif him How iens
have you signed in for?' he asked "A
year. 1 answered Poor devil! And
how are you feeling nowg
"As q matter of fact, when he asked
me was feeling rotten. l had not had
drink for several hours. l was be-
ginning to shake. and I did not know
what on earth I should do-how I should
keep still at dinner, how 1 should dc
anything. I know he answered. look
ing at me. I know. Come in here He
own room next door. Now he said.
shut your eyes and don't open them till
I tell you did SO. I heard a gurgline
noise. and when opened my eyes my
finger peg Of whisky. It was a godsend!
Drink it up. quick he said. and say
nothing about it. Tomorrow morning at
IL o'clock. If you come in to me again
you can have another clasped him
by the hand with fervent gratitude, fin
ished my dressing and as the gong
sounded went down to dinner fairly ordi-
nary.
During the next few weeks Lawson
and became great friends. Twice a
me a drink. I got better and better under
the treatment I was undergoing. and the
two drinks a day did not hurt me at
all. though I often wondered how Law
son was able to procure liquor in such a
carefully guarded place. Eventually he
explained how 1t was done. He had a
riding master and used to go for long
rides every day. Of course accompanied
by a groom to see he got nothing while
he was outside the grounds. In his bed
shape by aluminium boot trees. He was
always sending these trees to be repaired,
and being hollow, they always came back
from outside full of the best old Scotch.
But that was nothing. There was an
other fellow in the home who took up
photography as hobby. He was always
taking photographs Of everybody and
everything in the grounds. and giving
prints to the patients afterward. His lit
tie dodge was quite simple. Bottles OF
Photographic chemicals were constantly
being brought in to him. They were not
chemicals at all. The bottles were SIM
ply full of brandy. He did not know how
to develop a photograph to save his life.
He used to send his films by post to the
Kodak Company, and they sent back the
prints. And DR.. Stewart was never able
to find out how on earth poor old -
got his liquor.
But this is by the way 1t Is imma-
terial to the story I have to tell
my friend Lawson made q great con-
fidant of me. and put me In possession Of
all his history. He had had q ranch In
southern America-hence his love of rid
ing-and had fallen into dreadful trouble
there. A beautiful actress, well known
all over the southern states. Mary Fitz-
gerald by name. had turned up in Cali
fornia while he was there Her husband,
d. IL xxxi<h