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others being present.     O�Brien chose to assume
his ultra-insolent, supercilious airs towards me, 
wherefore we had a little conversational spar.  Learning
I was �on� the Constellation, he proposed sending a mes-
sage to Benjamin, apropos of our big signs &c � that
we needed a band of music in the upper windows.   I
informed him we intended more than that � namely pri-
vate bands to precede the individual members of the edi-
torial staff when they went out to lunch &. �I look
upon Benjamin as a literary qu swindler!� says O�B.
I repressed a reply which was on the tip of my tongue
and rep intimated that P. B. could probably hold his
own in any controversy. �He owns holds other peoples�
own� quoth O�Bouncer.     Whereupon I lamented that
the case was not solitary among the craft � granting its
truth (which I doubted) as applicable to Benjamin.
Anon I followed up with a neatish dig at the Saturday
Press�s having achieved its 2nd volume � and about
its 13th weekly number � a dodge to entrap adverti-
sers into belief in its substantiality.    Seated on the
counter, swinging my legs, I felt in spirits enough to 
talk any �sarce� even to the most impudent Irishman
I ever met in my life.     What a host of hates must
cluster around O�Brien, and for the most part
deservedly!  I wonder he can sleep � but for his 
infernal, ingrained, all-absorbing selfishness he couldn�t.
Only the other day he set to borrow $5 from Haney,
having paved the way hitherto, by smaller loans, which