In a few minutes my heart ceased to thump and I knew we were off.
I spoke for two hours, and I spoke well.
I did not push the lecture in front of me, nor did I drag it behind. I got the chancery twist on it and carried it off big, as I do about one time in ten. I finished in a whirlwind of applause, with the bishop crying “Bravo!” and the fat lady with the fifty-dollar feather fan beaming approbation.
Fass stood in the wings to congratulate me.
I shook hands with a hundred. The house slowly emptied. I bade the genial Fass good-by. He took my hand in both of his. “You will come back! You must come back!” he said.
He walked with me, bareheaded, to my carriage.
He again pressed my hand.
I rode to my hotel and went to bed, and to sleep.
I was awakened by a bright glare of light that filled my room.