It came back to me that I had such a ship brother, and that it
was Gitelson. Poor Gitelson! He was still working at his trade.
I had not seen him for years, but I had heard of him from time to
time, and I knew that he was employed by a ladies' tailor at
custom work somewhere in Brooklyn. (The custom-tailoring shop
he had once started for himself had proved a failure.) Also, I knew
how to reach a brother-in-law of his. The upshot was that I made
an appointment with Gitelson for him to be at my office on the
great day at 12 o'clock. I did so without specifying the object of
the meeting, but I expected that he would know
Finally the day arrived. It was a few minutes to 12. I was alone in
my private office, all in a fidget, as if the meeting I was expecting
were a love-tryst. Reminiscences and reflections were flitting
incoherently through my mind. Some of the events of the day
which I was about to celebrate loomed up like a ship seen in the
distance. My eye swept the expensive furniture of my office. I
thought of the way my career had begun.
Pages:
795
796
797
798
799
800
801
802
803
804
805
806
807
808
809
810
811
812
813
814
815
816
817
818
819