In the Midst of Alarms | Page 3

his book into the world again, and
he saw, looking down on him, the stern face of a heavily mustached
stranger.
"I beg your pardon, sir, but may I ask if you are a guest of this house?"
A shade of apprehension crossed the professor's face as he slipped the
book into his pocket. He had vaguely felt that he was trespassing when
he first entered the hotel, and now his doubts were confirmed.
"I--I am not exactly a guest," he stammered.
"What do you mean by not exactly a guest?" continued the other,
regarding the professor with a cold and scrutinizing gaze. "A man is
either a guest or he is not, I take it. Which is it in your case?"
"I presume, technically speaking, I am not."

"Technically speaking! More evasions. Let me ask you, sir, as an
ostensibly honest man, if you imagine that all this luxury--this--this
elegance--is maintained for nothing? Do you think, sir, that it is
provided for any man who has cheek enough to step out of the street
and enjoy it? Is it kept up, I ask, for people who are, technically
speaking, not guests?"
The expression of conscious guilt deepened on the face of the
unfortunate professor. He Had nothing, to say. He realized that his
conduct was too flagrant to admit of defense, so he attempted none.
Suddenly the countenance of his questioner lit up with a smile, and he
smote the professor on the shoulder.
"Well, old stick-in-the-mud, you haven't changed a particle in fifteen
years! You don't mean to pretend you don't know me?"
"You can't--you can't be Richard Yates?"
"I not only can, but I can't be anybody else. I know, because I have
often tried. Well, well, well, well! Stilly we used to call you; don't you
remember? I'll never forget that time we sang 'Oft in the stilly night' in
front of your window when you were studying for the exams. You
always were a quiet fellow, Stilly. I've been waiting for you nearly a
whole day. I was up just now with a party of friends when the boy
brought me your card--a little philanthropic gathering--sort of mutual
benefit arrangement, you know: each of us contributed what we could
spare to a general fund, which was given to some deserving person in
the crowd."
"Yes," said the professor dryly. "I heard the clerk telling the boy where
he would be most likely to find you."
"Oh, you did, eh?" cried Yates, with a laugh. "Yes, Sam generally
knows ere to send for me; but he needn't have been so darned public
about it. Being a newspaper man, I know what ought to go in print and
what should have the blue pencil run through it. Sam is very discreet,
as a general thing; but then he knew, of course, the moment he set eyes
on you, that you were an old pal of mine."

Again Yates laughed, a very bright and cheery laugh for so evidently
wicked a man.
"Come along," he said, taking the professor by the arm. "We must get
you located."
They passed out into the hall, and drew up at the clerk's counter.
"I say, Sam," cried Yates, "can't you do something better for us than the
fifth floor? I didn't come to Buffalo to engage in ballooning. No sky
parlors for me, if I can help it."
"I'm sorry, Dick," said the clerk; "but I expect the fifth floor will be
gone when the Chicago express gets in."
"Well, what can you do for us, anyhow?"
"I can let you have 518. That's the next room to yours. Really, they're
the most comfortable rooms in the house this weather. Fine lookout
over the lake. I wouldn't mind having a sight of the lake myself, if I
could leave the desk."
"All right. But I didn't come to look at the lake, nor yet at the railroad
tracks this side, nor at Buffalo Creek either, beautiful and romantic as it
is, nor to listen to the clanging of the ten thousand locomotives that
pass within hearing distance for the delight of your guests. The fact is
that, always excepting Chicago, Buffalo is more like--for the
professor's sake I'll say Hades, than any other place in America."
"Oh. Buffalo's all right," said the clerk, with that feeling of local loyalty
which all Americans possess. "Say, are you here on this Fenian snap?"
"What Fenian snap?" asked the newspaper man.
"Oh! don't you know about it? I thought, the moment I saw you, that
you were here for this affair. Well, don't say I told you, but I can put
you on to one of the big guns if you want the particulars. They say
they're going to take Canada. I told 'em that I