[Gutenberg 24432] • The Wit and Humor of America, Volume VIII (of X)

Excerpt: ...notes." I had two or three out myself. It was nine o'clock when the hall-boy's bell rang, and I placed my ear to the tube. A gentleman wished to see me in regard to a lost hat. "Send him up, James; send him up!" I bawled down the tube. Visions of the club returned, and I tossed Blackstone into a corner. Presently there came a tap on the door, and I flung it wide. But my visitor was not the benevolent old gentleman. He was the Frenchman whose absinthe had offended me. He glanced at the slip of paper in his hand. "I have zee honaire to address zee