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Bouton, John Bell

"Round the Block"

Two single beds occupied
opposite corners.
With reference to the beds, Mr. Pigworth remarked:
"Podhammer and Gineral Chetley slept in that air one. Colonel
Hockensacker and Judge Waterfield in t'other. There was four other
mattresses put down here that night, each of 'em with two of our most
distinguished citizens on it. That convention was worth to me a good
hundred dollars."
With every respect for the precedent established by Podhammer and
associates, Marcus Wilkeson preferred to sleep alone, as he had done for
twenty years. He privately expressed to the landlord a desire for one of
the mattresses which had done duty during the convention.
The landlord smiled, evidently regarding the request as eccentric and
unreasonable, but nodded "All right." As for Tiffles and Patching,
having shared the same couch several nights during the incubation of the
panorama, the problem of how to distribute three men among two beds
gave them no concern. Pigworth then retired.
Marcus Wilkeson's first act was to open the windows, and mix some fresh
air with the damp and mouldy atmosphere of the apartment.


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