after all!"

"It was a marvel," continued Slyder, "that we kept him
alive at all. And, of course"--here the doctor paused
to ring the bell to order two Manhattan cocktails--"as
soon as he touched alcohol he was done."

So that was the end of the valetudinarianism of Mr. Podge.

I have always considered that I killed him.

But anyway, he was a nuisance at the club.



3.--The Amazing Travels of Mr. Yarner

There was no fault to be found with Mr. Yarner till he
made his trip around the world.

It was that, I think, which disturbed his brain and
unfitted him for membership in the club.

"Well," he would say, as he sat ponderously down with
the air of a man opening an interesting conversation, "I
was just figuring it out that eleven months ago to-day
I was in Pekin."

"That's odd," I said, "I was just reckoning that eleven
days ago I was in Poughkeepsie."