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Show VPoC HOKNE (of the Alfalfa Hotel) AND HIS FRIENDS george ape V Acquaintances ,or Friends Which? ir HOKNE regarded his associate European WW aS mo,o u.quan.-tancc. u.quan.-tancc. A fov men lm.1 flol.l together in one eddy of the city ' tur-nee. tur-nee. Thev had oh,, nam . Lapped stories and organized then -Sves into a small community through ihe promptings of a natural hunRcr lor companionship. Members ot tho eon, mnity drifted away and Tvero lost, and h6e remaining behind did not seem to miss thorn. Strangers earn,, and were carelessly received into fellowship. It 1 n-as. a loose sort of intercourse, ami there was no evidence that any genuine friendships were growing out of tho rhance meetings. The humiliating encounter with the lush, the race-track man's endeavor to discredit the story of Ohio politics, nnd V the freckled boy's persistence in talk-jt talk-jt iBg slangily about himself had helped to convince Doc Home that the dentist was his only friend, and that he (Doc) could be happier in another hotel. It is possible that he might have gone from the Alfalfa, had it not been for a slight attack of illness which crumpled him inTed one morning. The freckled boy heard of Doc's illness from the chambermaid. He Tcent to the room nt once and found Doc curled under the bed clothes into the shape of a letter S, "'Kit " ''"s,mu'trV"'!''he Claimed, wron,. . '""'I'licHtio,,, nu. , . thin . , '' old br,"1'-1.'4-Oh, dear!'' , ' Wl ,?. vo"' bet it's fn t nUd 01" AV' iiS ' "line ' ! lio-d fo?hin r ! ,,h?ri!'8 not'b' d'"1 st has cnf Uok hero! That "'J-''"gowns. new and sassy red tlnuu,,, vou Vef1. th same, That tortuble but, o the r"1,- ?,av your looks auv V-the '"'el, it don,t Uep clmmbe",,",1;; and intimidated a lntb "'f dent sf ron i Vl,r, him to go tlp "sassy"0'811'! 'e returned odly ordered' (1, ?em- Also, he brtr-olean pillow sll ''""maid to L "c sown ivi, .j 1 V'. mont. with red scall"0' 5(afhv fear-ad fear-ad down the fr0 ?ps f ou"d the neck Pt on the gown a j Atter Doc had np -against two fat Topped himself """tf a respectable "te P'OTrs he t'lSh he in's steo 1 that T6"8""- aI" much as ever. at he suffered as boy'1 - r-e lfS !j 'he freckled here even- little JiH?1 iu1 to come up V't" u i i-ghis handea'tK e hoy, lay--Wre sick and man s shoulder. 11 going to take aire of yon. Von bet if there's anv-tning anv-tning you want you can jjpt it " Doc tried to sav somcibiiig but foiled. II fl rtimplv nodded. Whou tho freckled boy v,t-nt downstairs down-stairs he mot the hish, to whom he tub! the news. The lush was on his wav to the bar to try a giu cocktail as a remedy rem-edy tor heartburn, but he forcot his own malady when ha heard about Doc Without waiting for the slow elevator to eome clown he bounded up the stairway stair-way three steps at a time and dashed into Doc s hale room at the end of the hall. "By George, Doe, von must excuse me tor not coming sooner but 1 iust heard about this." J "I dtdn't give in until last nihl " said Doc. "My physician thinks it's nothing serious." "Weil, by thunder, you know can't take any chances. Did he give vou any medicine?" ' "Borne capsules and drops." "Rats! If you've got a cold and fee sort ot run down, the best thing vou can do is to get a bottle of good whisky and hit it about everv half hour. Now Doe I'm going to get" some that I know is all right. ' ' "Maybe I hadn't better " beau Doc. e "Oh. pshaw! good whisky can't hurt you. I've been this way myself two or three times, and whisky is the only thing that ever helped me. I'll be back in a little while." He hurried away, and fifteen minutes later, as he came into the office with a basket of peaches in one hand and a quart bottle of whisky in the other, he met the race-track man. "What are you doing with that stuff?" asked the race-track man. "Great Scott! Haven't you heard? Doc's laid up in bis room "sick as he caa be- I've been out buying some thinps for him. ' "' I "ou don't expect a sick man to cat ! a peek of peaches, do vou?" 'A little fruit won't hurt him. I've j i pot a quart of whisk v there teat r0t me two dollars. That'ought to fix him. tome on up and see the old bov.'' "'ure T will. L wonder if he's cot anything- to read? Expect I'd bet"; or buy something." The race-track man went out and purchased all the moraine papers, a copy of "Lovers Once, but Strangers v.,wt "d a New York weekly paper tilled with scandalous half-tone reproductions repro-ductions of photographs. The two men carried their supplies tip to Doc's room and laid them on the bedspread in front of him. "Honestly, bovs this is too much; don t go to all this trouble.' said Doc, who was really embarrassed. These two men. of all! "I'm rather afraid to eat fruit," he said. " vell. here's something vou needn't be afraid of.'' said the is)i', calling attention at-tention to the bottle of whiskv. Merely to prove that the liquor was all right he rlretv the cork and poured a heavy drink into the glass on the table and drank it with great ease. "Xow, Doc," said he, pouring another an-other drink. "I expect Ird better not drink anything any-thing until I see my phvsician " said Doe. "Vou take it then," said the lush, offering the glass to the race-track man. "No. I never drink in the morning," was the reply. The lush gazed at the drink thoughtfully, thought-fully, and, after a moment's hesitancy swallowed it. "Now, Doc," said he. " don't you want me to read to you?" "No, I don't want to put vou, to all that" 'Get out! You must rliink we're barbarians bar-barians To neglect an oM rriead wiien lie's sick. 1 cuu stiiv here ail dav aua rea.i to yvu. .My, Lice, on tue soi'.:.re, you ought to take a good drink ot' that liquor. It would put new lite into you. ' ' " ' I 'in airaid to try it. " The lush spent the greater part of the day in Jjoe 's bedroom, striving to per-iorui per-iorui various service ior the patient. At times Doc would be calm and Jree irom pain, and at other times he would rub his stomach region, wince and groan. At such times the lush would become greatly excited. He would take a .small drink to quiet his nerves and would then declare, with some pro-ianity, pro-ianity, that it ' broke him all up'' to see an old friend suffer. When the lightning dentist arrived at the hotel late in the afternoon and heard the news from ilr. Ike francis. he ran out and purchased a bouquet of yellow roses. Going on tiptoe, he laid the flowers on the spread. I'oe saw the bouquet, and his cup ran over. Ho tried to blink away the tears, and the lightning dentist was so embarrassed that he turned and went out, still on tiptoe. Ho came back later, when he was sure that he could control his feelings. The lush had given up nursing, and retired re-tired to his room to take alnap. ;'You boys have been kind to me today, to-day, 7 ' said Doc, who was sitting halfway half-way up, with the yellow roses in front of him. "My God, what a thing it is to have friends! I've made fortunes and and lost them, but I made good friends and I never lost them. It's a great blessing, my dear sir, to grow old and still hold to your faith m humanity. Even that freckled boy " ' ' Are vou feeling some better by this time-?" "I'll be all right tomorrow. I know these attacks, and I know how to com-I com-I bat t::em." "Id spend the evening wiih you, ' Doc. but this is my nigLt to go and call on Miss Miibury." "Is she the one you mentioned the: other day:" "Yes, and I'm anxious to know her belter, because she's darned preity and ', seeir.s To be very reiined. j " 1 ou mighT drop m after vou cet ' home and toil me what kind of a time I you hud.'' "I'd like to, first-rate, if it wouldn't be disturbing you. It you fall asleep you wouldn't want to le " ''Oh, that's all right. L'ome right in. I 'll be awake. " Sure enough. Doc was awake when the dentist returned from his call. The lush had returned to his post of dutv and now he sat near the Wdside. gazing gaz-ing at Doc with an expression of plaintive plain-tive solicitude and an air or wavering sleepiness. ' ' i 'm bringin ' him 'round all ri ', ' ' ho remarked. The presents wore on the table. The 'infallible remedy in the quart bottle had been reduced in quant irv until it was half-way dowu the label. 'but the basket of peaches was still unbroken. ' ' You had a pleasant evening- ' asked Doc, looking up from the pillows. "Great!"' replied tho denristl not choosing to be anv more specific m The presence of the lush. The dentist wore light gray coat and trousers, patent-leather shoes, a plaid waistcoat of hempen material, a blue and white bow tie aDd a roan-colored derby hat. On his lape was a large flower, although it was small for a peony. . Catching Doc's eye, he looked down at the flower and touched it with his thumb, and then Doc. knew she had given giv-en it to him. "Ain't 1 good nurse. Ivf" akod the ;r.h. "Yen ce-;air,!V :.:ivc been kb.:d ar.d I a ; T n f '.: 1 r.day." rrr-lui Iv. " e, ha; when a mar " hud w x W 0 1 1 . a n : s t c. c c v. v o : . e w 1. o :-: ; a c rare o: him." st;jeed the dctii. "'Oh. 1 don't Kiunv." Mi;d t..o it.sb. "1 :n pretty goo' i;t:ie nurse mvscii.'J "J;it the sstr.e, if I'm go;i-g to bo ?u;k, 1 war.: a woman to nurse :iu ' ; said the dentist. "Tha: s where a woman i an angel, gentlemen a mir.isterir.g angel, sV.ro enough, is in the sick room.' remarked Poc, putting his head higher on the pillow pil-low so tha; he coiud lot'k out at thorn. "Once 1 was Taken suddenlv ill in Now Or:ean and had to go io the hosritah 1 was delirious for four weeks V'ea r jour of my head. The third dav of mv j illr.oss. so they told me afterward, a beautiful woman attired in hhu-i; came j o the hospitnl and asked permisstoa to ! nurfe nu. saving that she wa.- a friend of miuc. Well. -dr. that woman wa at :ny bedside almost eonstaiitiv for a month. The attendants at the hospital said they never witnessed a more won-' won-' derful exhibition of gentleness ar.d devotion. de-votion. On the day when I regained consciousness this woman left the hospital hos-pital and 1 never could loam who she was or why she had taken such an interest in-terest in me. I made every effort to find her, but I couldn't do it. I guess ' it's time to take another of thuse capsules. cap-sules. ' ' The lush was willing to sit up ail night, but the dentist understood, and succeeded in taking him awav. Vheu they were in the hallwav the lush said: "Xew Orleans hospital'. Doc has ev 'v sly in p torn of man's goin ' to get well.1' (Copyright. b lh Whler PniSiete, Inc. Nest week's ' Doe Home " storv is entitled "A Lecture on the Cocktail.'" |