to my habit) for a final pint.  It appears they did not keep Roussillon in half-bottles.  “All right,” said I.  “Another bottle.”  The tables at this eating-house are close together; and the next thing I can remember, I was in somewhat loud conversation with my nearest neighbours.  From these I must have gradually extended my attentions; for I have a clear recollection of gazing about a room in which every chair was half turned round and every face turned smilingly to mine.  I can even remember what I was saying at the moment; but after twenty years, the embers of shame are still alive; and I prefer to give your imagination the cue, by simply mentioning that my muse was the patriotic.  It had been my design to adjourn for coffee in the company of some of these new friends; but I was no sooner on the sidewalk than I found myself unaccountably alone.  The circumstance scarce surprised me at the time, much less now; but I was somewhat chagrined a little after to find I had walked into a kiosque.  I began to wonder if I were any the worse for my last bottle, and decided to steady myself with coffee and brandy.  In the Cafe de la Source, where I went for this restorative, the fountain was playing, and (what greatly surprised me) the mill and the various mechanical figures on the rockery appeared to have been freshly repaired and performed the most enchanting antics.  The cafe was extraordinarily hot and bright, with every detail of a conspicuous clearness, from the faces of the guests to the type of the newspapers on the tables, and the whole apartment swang to and fro like a hammock, with an exhilarating motion.  For some while I was so extremely pleased with these particulars that I thought I could never be weary of beholding them:  then dropped of a sudden into a causeless sadness; and then, with the same swiftness and spontaneity, arrived at the conclusion that I was drunk and had better get to bed.

It was but a step or two to my hotel, where I got my lighted candle from the porter and mounted the four flights to my own room.  Although I could not deny that I was drunk, I was at the same time lucidly rational and practical.  I had but one preoccupation—­to be up in time on the morrow for my work; and when I observed the clock on my chimney-piece to have stopped, I decided to go down stairs again and give directions to the porter.  Leaving the candle burning and my door open, to be a guide to me on my return, I set forth accordingly.  The house was quite dark; but as there were only the three doors on each landing, it was impossible to wander, and I had nothing to do but descend the stairs until I saw the glimmer of the porter’s night light.  I counted four flights:  no porter.  It was possible, of course, that I had reckoned incorrectly; so I went down another and another, and another, still counting as I went, until I had reached the preposterous figure of nine flights.  It was now quite clear that I had somehow passed the porter’s lodge without