s bathroom, and left the _Post_ without an editor.

XIX

_The Little House on Duke of Gloucester Street; and the Beginning
of Various Feelings, Sensibilities, and Attitudes between two
Lonely Men._

One instant thought the news of the Colonel's death struck from nearly
everybody's mind: _He'll miss the Reunion_. For within a few days the
city was to witness that yearly gathering of broken armies which, of all
assemblages among men, the Colonel had loved most dearly. In thirty
years, he had not missed one, till now. They buried the old warrior with
pomp and circumstance, not to speak of many tears, and his young
assistant in the sanctum came home from the graveside with a sense of
having lost a valued counselor and friend. Only the home to which the
assistant returned with this feeling was not the Third Hall Back of Mrs.
Paynter's, sometimes known as the Scriptorium, but a whole suite of
pleasant rooms, upstairs and down, in a nice little house on Duke of
Gloucester Street. For Nicolovius had made his contemplated move on the
first of May, and Queed had gone with him.

It was half-past six o'clock on a pretty summer's evening. Queed opened
the house-door with a latch-key and went upstairs to the comfortable
living-room, which faithfully reproduced the old professor's
sitting-room at Mrs. Paynter's. Nicolovius, in his black silk cap, was
sitting near the open window, reading and smoking a strong cigarette.

"Ah, here you are! I was just thinking that you were rather later than
usual this evening."

"Yes, I went to Colonel Cowles's funeral. It was decidedly impressive."

"Ah!"

Queed dropped down into one of Nicolovius's agreeable chairs and let
his eyes roam over the room. He was extremely comfortable in this house;
a little too comfortable, he was beginning to think now, considering
that he paid but seven dollars and fifty cents a week towards its
support. He had a desk and lamp all his own in the living-room, a table
and lamp in his bedroom, ease and independence over two floors. An old
negro man looked after the two gentlemen and gave them excellent things
to eat. The house was an old one, and small; it was in an unfashionable
part of town, and having stood empty for some time, could be had for
thirty-five dollars a month. However, Nicolovius had wiped out any
economy here by spending his money freely to repair and beautify. He had
had workmen in the house for a month, papering, painting