A HAVEN OF REST? 



fray, I did not follow my usual custom and sit 

 out the function, which bid fair to be a late one, 

 to the bitter end. Leaving a goodly company, 

 full of that genial sociality which loses count of 

 time, at a moment when I could slip away un- 

 observed, I made tracks for the longed-for haven 

 of rest. On inquiring for my room, nobody 

 seemed to know where it was, but the landlord 

 assured me that he was just having it prepared 

 for me. Conceive my horror when I found that 

 the chamber wherein I was to woo the good 

 offices of nature's sweet restorer was provided 

 by the cutting off with a couple of screens of a 

 corner of the banquet-hall I had just left. The 

 room originally assigned to me had, through a 

 mistake of the booking-clerk, been re-let to some 

 one else who was already in possession. In vain 

 I stormed and protested and demanded different 

 quarters ; it was all of no avail, for every other nook 

 and corner of the hotel and every piece of furniture 

 on which it was possible for a mortal to recline 

 had been already appropriated. So, as it was 

 Hobson's choice, and a precious bad one to boot, 

 I had no alternative but to accept it, earnestly 

 trusting that the revellers might soon be as tired 

 as I was and yearn for their several couches. 

 Vain hope ! Conviviality reigned supreme, and 

 found its vent in inexhaustible vocal harmony, 

 stimulated by a refresher, the name of which was 

 burnt into my memory for all time by constant 

 repetition. 



During the long watches of that anything-but- 

 silent night, it was over and over again impressed 

 upon me that the beverage par excellence with 



63 



