He had been walking for a very long time. He ought to go to bed. He had a
hotel somewhere if he could only think where. The policeman might know.
The policeman saw a young man with staring eyes coming toward him,
remarked "hophead" internally and played with his nightstick a little
more. The nearer Oliver came the larger and more unsympathetic the
policeman seemed to him. Still, if you couldn't remember what your hotel
was yourself it was only sensible to ask guidance on the question. His
mind reacted suddenly toward grotesqueness. One had to be very polite to
large policemen. The politeness should, naturally, increase as the square
of the policeman.
"I wonder if you could tell me where my hotel is, officer?" Oliver began.
"What hotel?" said the policeman uninterestedly. Oliver noticed with an
inane distinctness that he had started to swirl his nightstick as a large
blue cat might switch its tail. He wondered if it would be tactful to ask
him if he had ever been a drum major. Then he realized that the policeman
had asked him a question--courtesy demanded a prompt response.
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