stands of rockets with long bamboo stems. Outside the café there was a great crowd. The music and the dancing were going on. The giants and the dwarfs were passing.
"Where's Edna?" I asked Bill.
"I don't know."
We watched the beginning of the evening of the last night of the fiesta. The absinthe made everything seem better. I drank it without sugar in the dripping glass, and it was pleasantly bitter.
"I feel sorry about Cohn," Bill said. "He had an awful time."
"Oh, to hell with Cohn," I said.
"Where do you suppose he went?"
"Up to Paris."
"What do you suppose he'll do?"
"Oh, to hell with him."
"What do you suppose he'll do?"
"Pick up with his old girl, probably."
"Who was his old girl?"
"Somebody named Frances."
We had another absinthe.
"When do you go back?" I asked.
"To-morrow."
After a little while Bill said: "Well, it was a swell fiesta."
"Yes," I said; "something doing all the time."
"You wouldn't believe it. It's like a wonderful nightmare."
"Sure," I said. "I'd believe anything. Including nightmares."
"What's the matter? Feel low?"
"Low as hell."
"Have another absinthe. Here, waiter! Another absinthe for this señor."
"I feel like hell," I said.
"Drink that," said Bill. "Drink it slow."
It was beginning to get dark. The fiesta was going on. I began to feel drunk but I did not feel any better.
