t to eject Mr. Blank from the room by force. Nothing
could be more automatic than my action at that time; indeed, to this
day I do not remember performing the act itself. What I remember is the
determination to perform it and the subsequent evidence of its having
been performed. At all events I had already made up my mind to do a
certain thing if the attendant did a certain thing. He did the one and
I did the other. Almost before he had touched Mr. Blank's person, my
right fist struck him with great force in, on, or about the left eye.
It was then that I became the object of the attendant's attention--but
not his undivided attention--for as he was choking me, my unsuspected
ally stepped up and paid the attendant a sincere compliment by likewise
choking him. In the scuffle I was forced to the floor. The attendant
had a grip upon my throat. My wardmate had a double grip upon the
attendant's throat. Thus was formed a chain with a weak, if not a
missing, link in the middle. Picture, if you will, an insane man being
choked by a supposedly sane one, and he in turn being choked by a
temporarily sane insane friend of the assaulted one, and you will have
Nemesis as nearly in a nutshell as any mere rhetorician has yet been
able to put her.

That I was well choked is proved by the fact that my throat bore the
crescent-shaped mark of my assailant's thumb nail. And I am inclined to
believe that my rescuer, who was a very powerful man, made a decided
impression on my assailant's throat. Had not the superintendent
opportunely appeared at that moment, the man might soon have lapsed
into unconsciousness, for I am sure my ally would never have released
him until he had released me. The moment the attendant with his one
good eye caught sight of the superintendent the scrimmage ended. This
was but natural, for it is against the code of honor generally
obtaining among attendants, that one should so far forget himself as to
abuse patients in the presence of sane and competent witnesses.

The choking which I had just received served only to limber my vocal
cords. I told the doctor all about the preliminary verbal skirmish and
the needlessness of the fight. The superintendent had graduated at Yale
over fifty years prior to my own graduation, and because of this common
interest and his consummate tact we got along well together. But his
friendly interest did not keep him from speaking his mind upon
occasion, as his words at this time proved. "