to use as the water from the
copper cooled.

I took a roomy, hard-bottomed kitchen chair into the bathroom; on it
I placed a carefully scraped, cleared, and filled pipe, matches, more
tobacco, tooth-brush, saucer with a lump of whiting and salt, piece of
looking-glass--to see progress of the teeth--and knife for finger and
toe nails. And I knocked up a few three-inch iron nails in the wall to
hang things on. I placed a clean suit of pyjamas over the back of the
chair, and over them the towels.

I arranged with the landlady to have a good cup of coffee made, as she
knows how to make it, ready to hand in round the edge of the door when
I should be in the bath. There's nothing in that. I've been with her for
years, and on account of the canvas it would be just the same as if I
were in bed. On second thought I asked her to hand in some toast--or
bread and butter and bloater paste--at the same time. I fed the fire
with judgment, and the copper boiled just as the last blaze died down. I
got a pail and carried the water to the bath, pouring it in through the
opening at the head. The last few pints I dipped into the pail with a
cup. I covered the opening with a towel to keep the steam and heat in
until I was ready. I got the boiling water from the kitchen into the
bucket, covered it with another towel, and stood it in a handy corner in
the bathroom.

I made an opening, turned on the cold water, and commenced to undress. I
hung my clothes on the wall, till morning, for I intended to go straight
from the bath to bed in my pyjamas and to lie there reading.

I turned off the cold water tap to be sure, lifted the towel off, and
put my good right foot in to feel the temperature--into about three
inches of cold water, and that was vanishing.

I'd forgotten to put in the plug.

I'm deaf, you know, and the landlady, hearing the water run, thought I
was flushing out the bath (we were new tenants) and wondered vaguely why
I was so long at it.

I dressed rather hurriedly in my working clothes, went inside, and
spread myself dramatically on the old cane lounge and covered my face
with my oldest hat, to show that it was comic and I took it that way.
But my landlady was so full of sympathy, condolence, and self-reproach
(because she failed to draw my attention to the gurgling) that she let
the coffee and toast burn.

I went up and lay on my bed, and was so tired and misty and far away
that I went to sleep without undressing, or eve