Duff’s office was quiet and the clerks were gone, but the last to go had brought the evening mail from the postoffice. Maxwell turned over the envelopes and then reached for a glass in an open drawer. He drained the glass and, resting his arms on the table, leaned forward wearily.
He had not had much lunch, and unless he again put off business he ought to have transacted in the morning, he must go without supper. Now he thought about it, he had not for two or three weeks bothered about food. Sometimes he plunged into a quick-lunch counter and sometimes he braced himself by a drink. Well, he needed bracing and liquor helped him to bear the strain, but when the strain got slacker he must stop.
For a few moments he balanced his paper-knife and hesitated. Perhaps he was ridiculous, but he ra
