hief
outside the door. Open up, or I'll shin right over the transom, for I
must see you," and still preserving silence, Mr. Middleton heard a
sound as of a man essaying to stand on the door knob and grasp the
transom above. He rushed to the door, unlocked it, and opening it just
enough to squeeze through, shut it behind him and thrust the key in
the lock.

"Keep still, keep still. You'll wake the old man. I can't let you in."

"Was that him, slumped down in the chair? Must be tired to sleep in
that position. Say, old chap, you were my best man, and now I want you
again."

"Want me to draw up papers for a divorce?" said Mr. Middleton,
gloomily. How was he going to get rid of this inopportune fellow?

"Shut up," said Chauncy Stackelberg. "It's a boy, and I want you to
come up to the christening next Sunday and be godfather. You don't
know how happy I am. Say, come on down and get a drink."

Ten minutes before, Mr. Middleton had been convinced that drink was a
very great curse, but he accepted this invitation with alacrity,
naming a saloon two blocks away as the one he considered best in that
vicinity. He surmised that the happy father would hardly offer to come
back with him from such a distance, and the surmise was correct. As he
reascended to the office, with him in the elevator were two gentlemen,
one of whom he recognized as Dr. Angus McAllyn, a celebrated surgeon
who had two or three times come to the office to see Mr. Brockelsby
and the other as Dr. Lucius Darst, a young eye and ear specialist who
within the space of but a few days had established his office in the
building. To neither of these gentlemen, however, was Mr. Middleton
known.

"I want you to get off on this floor with me," said Dr. McAllyn to his
medical confrere. "I may want your assistance a bit. You see," he went
on, as they got out of the elevator and started down the corridor with
Mr. Middleton just behind, "we had a banquet last night of the Society
of Andrew Jackson's Wars, and my friend Brockelsby got too much
aboard. He was turned over to me to take to his home, but just as we
were leaving, I received an urgent call. So the best I could do was to
drive by here and start him toward his office and go on. He could
navigate after a fashion and doubtless spent the night all right in
his office, and I would take no farther trouble with him but for the
fact that he has an important case to-day. So I want to fix him up,
and as I haven't much ti