. Narcisse glanced sleepily at his own bed in the corner of
the room, stretched out his long legs and arms, opened his mouth
alarmingly wide, yawned vociferously, and declared that he was so
sleepy that he could hardly keep his eyes open. Before leaving the
room to go to his own, which was next to Narcisse's, Charlie pulled
off his coat and threw it over his arm. If Narcisse had entertained
any doubts as to whether or not Charlie was really as sleepy as he had
intimated, this partial unrobing must surely have dispelled it.
Notwithstanding his haste to get to bed, Charlie fumbled at the latch
an unusually long time before he succeeded in opening the door. And
finally, when it did swing open, his coat, without any apparent
provocation, perversely slipped from his arm and fell to the floor.
Charlie found it necessary, before he put it across his arm again, to
carefully dust and fold it.

Turning round as the door was closing behind him, he said, in a voice
that seemed a little strained, "Yes, we will go to bed and dream of
camp days, eh, Narcisse?" Then he was gone.

Narcisse walked over to the window, stood for a few moments with
folded arms, gazing out into the darkness, and then said softly, "Yes,
dream of de camp days."

When Charlie reached his room, he acted in a most peculiar manner; he
put his ear to the partition that separated his room from Narcisse's,
and listened intently; then walked over to his bed, sat on the edge
of it, took off his boots, held them aloof, and then let them fall on
the floor; laid his coat across the foot of the bed, stood still for a
few minutes, and then threw himself so heavily across the bed that it
groaned loudly enough to be distinctly heard by Narcisse, who nodded
his head in a satisfied manner.

Charlie lay on the top of the clothes, dressed, with the exception of
his boots, hat, and coat, with his eyes wide open and his head bent in
a listening attitude. Presently the sound of falling boots in
Narcisse's room also brought a look of relief to Charlie's face. After
hearing Narcisse blow out the light and get into bed, Charlie lay
perfectly still. An hour sped by; the only sounds to be heard were the
cries of the wind as it tore through the branches of the tree whose
long well-clad arms in summer protected Charlie's room from the fierce
rays of the sun. At short intervals, the branches tapped on the window
panes, as though craving protection from the storm. Inside the house
quiet