if I had found a job, I
might have done so. As it was I climbed up one step and fell down two,
and that went on indefinitely. It wasn't as if I'd had a distinct aim or
anything in my life which made it seem worth living. I didn't half care.
I'd set my heart on something which I couldn't get, and--well, never
mind that. It is all as long ago as the Flood! I got work now and again,
tried reporting, and teaching, and copying. But each time it was a grade
lower, and I stuck to nothing but the whiskey--except when I had a
little more money than usual, and then it was absinthe."

He touched his eyes, and then raised his hand to the level of his chin,
with the fingers held wide apart and rigid, and watched it tremble for
an instant in silence.

"I haven't seen a mirror in weeks," he went on, "but I know the signs
are all there. That's the story. I could string it out for an hour, but
it would all be in the same key. I've simply been going down, down,
down. I'm what the old judge called me--do you remember it came out in
the 'Record?'--I'm a common drunk, Barclay. And I don't care! I've been
on the point of putting an end to it many a time--but I always held out
for another drink! Now, even my pride's gone. It stuck to me longer than
anything else, but it's taken itself off at last. I've been feeling
lately that I'm pretty near the end, and I wanted to see Kenton City
again before it came. That's the reason I walked all the way from
Pittsburg, and I've been begging on the streets since I got in. I
thought nobody would recognize me."

"But _I_ did," said Barclay.

"Yes, and--and"--

"Yes, and _she_ did! She saw you this morning, but before she took in
fully that it was you, you were gone in the crowd. She was half
heart-broken over it, and made me promise to look you up. I was going to
do so, when I tumbled against you by chance to-night. You were watching
the house?"

"Yes, for the last time. I saw she had recognized me and that Kenton
City was no place for me. So I was off again to-night. Is she"--

"She is well, and, I am glad to say, happy. We are to be married in the
autumn."

A smile hovered for an instant on Cavendish's lips.

"God bless her!" he said slowly. "I'm glad of it. But don't let's talk
of that. She's as far above me as the stars!"

"And as far above me, too, for that matter!" answered Barclay. "Here's
your supper. While you're eating, I'll take my turn at the talk."

A bell-boy arranged the tray