Then, left to ourselves we felt just like naughty children, obliged to
get into some mischief, and when Mercedes suggested we should change all
the numbers on the doors, it seemed a nice outlet for us! Octavia had
gone to her room, or, she says, she would not have let us, and Lola and
her Randolph had retired, too, while the secretary had gone down to the
bar, so there was no one to prevent us. It was, of course, very naughty
of us, Mamma, and I dare say we deserved all that followed, but it was a
funny idea, wasn't it? The only ones we did not change were our own two;
everyone else's in the hotel, and there were about thirty-six rooms
altogether, we mixed all up and then we scampered in to bed!
There were only little oil lamps here, the electric lights not having
been fixed yet, and when I piled all the bed clothes on the floor and
rolled myself up in the quilt, I was off to sleep in a minute.
It did not seem very long afterwards when drunken footsteps came up the
passage and woke me up, and then a fumbling at the Senator's door and
frightful swearing because the key would not fit. The creature, whoever
it was, was perfectly furious, and one could hear him muttering "29, yes
it's 29," and then fearful oaths, and at last, with a shove, he wrenched
down the crazy door and got into the room and I suppose was too sleepy
or drunk to notice it was not his own, and retired to the Senator's bed!
Because I could hear him snoring next me through the cracked partition.
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