Page:Abroad with Mark Twain and Eugene Field.djvu/117

, looking fiercely at me: "Not a word of this in New York, or there will be another dozen Thaw trials."

As Harry Thaw is now disposed of, temporarily, at least, it won't do any harm to print Mark's interview with the barber.

It seems that Harry and Evelyn occupied a suite at the Cecil before they made that notorious exhibition of themselves in New York. Harry was an early riser and Evelyn was not, and when the barber called at eight, as ordered, Evelyn either had to be put out of bed forcibly by Harry or remained under the covers (for a time at least).

"And could you do your barbering and currycombing with that pretty thing within arm's length?" asked Mark.

"I had to," said the barber. "I was paid for it; besides, there was a terrible horsewhip on the bed and a revolver in an open drawer.

"Harry insisted upon smoking while I wielded the razor, and I had the greatest difficulty in the world not to cut him. He also insisted upon quarreling with Evelyn or lauding her beauty while my knife played around his mouth. This sort of thing went on for a week or more, when one fine morning I saw that Harry had rigged up a shooting stand in the hall of the apartment.

"'Close the door,' he cried, 'and pull the curtains across. I don't want the servants to hear.' Then he began firing at the target. Evelyn had been asleep, and hearing shots, 113