“Well, sir,” replied Danton, slowly and seriously, “I’ll try. The fact is, I am almost crazy. I scarcely know what I am saying at all. I have tried so hard to pull myself together since I started out to find you, and I have endeavored so strenuously to keep calm since I have been here that I begin to fear that I shall fail in both.”
“Tell me your story,” said Nick shortly.
“Will you permit me to make two beginnings? They seem necessary.”
“Well, in the first place, I attended a banquet at the club last night, and while there I drank of everything in sight, from cocktails through the still wines and champagnes to the cordials and cognac. In short, I became very drunk.”
“I can believe that. It was not your first experience.”
“No. Orizaba was with me at the club. We started for home together in the same cab.”
“You did not drive out to the Fells in a cab, did you?”
“Oh, no. We caught a train from the station. I suppose it was the twelve-thirty, since that is the last train out.”
“Well?”