"
At this point he paused. His jaws set, and his expression became stern,
almost fierce, as he added: "The man died in jail of a broken heart, and
I .. and I ..." He took a deep breath and continued as though he were
reciting an experience which he had heard related of some stranger.
"I was, of course, violently attacked; and it was a period of terrible
strain for me. What with anxiety and overwork I began to suffer from
insomnia, and that soon produced a bad condition of my nerves. One
morning I went down to The World and called for the editorials which
were ready for me to go over. I always read every line of editorial
copy. When I picked up the sheets I was astonished to find that I could
hardly see the writing, let alone read it. I thought it was probably due
to indigestion or to some other temporary cause, and said nothing about
it. The next morning on my way downtown I called in at an oculist's. He
examined my eyes and then told me to go home and remain in bed in a
darkened room for six weeks. At the end of that time he examined me
again, said that I had ruptured a blood vessel in one of my eyes, and
ordered me to stop work entirely and to take six months' rest in
California.
"That was the beginning of the end. Whatever my trouble had been at
first, it developed into separation of the retina in both eyes.
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