The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-10-02

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have downed hinh-Im glad to remem-
Der that. s-4 ~ - q sssxt,s
Well. there being only the two Of us,
it didn't matter much; it wasn't as
though there were a lot of helpless
women. folk to consider After the fu-
neral and the settlement with the cred
itors there was left-Fm ashamed TO
say how little, and, anyway, it's no
ones business; the debts were paid
What is a man to do, at thirty odd,
who has never turned his hand to any
thing of use? The governors friends?
Well they didn't know how bad things
were, and couldn't go to them with
the truth and make them present or
my helpless, incompetent self
And so for the last two years I've
been sticking 1T out in hall bedroom.
just west of the dead line.
have a life membership in the
club-what a Christmas present THAT
has turned out. to bei-and twice IN
the week / dine there AS for the rest
of It, never >nlind-there are things
which a man can do but OF when ne
doesn't care to speak.
The future? All, you can answer
that question quite as we'll as l. Now
I had calculated that, at my present
rate of expenditure, l could hold out
until Easter, but there have been con-
tingencies. To Illustrate, l had my
pocket picked yesterday morning
Amusing-isn,t it? that it should
have been my pocket-my pocket!
Fortunately I have stacks of clothes
and some good pearl shirtstuds, and
continue to present a respectable APP
pearance. l shall always do that.
think. I don't like the idea of the
pawnshop and the dropping down one
degree at time. If. in the end. IT.
shall be shown clearly that the line
- cI5o wal If
quietly and as a man should; object
TO the indecency OF being dragged or
carried across. What line do l mean?
1 don't know that / could tell you
clearly What is in your own mind?
There is line.
At half after l left the club. and
exactly a quarter of an hour later l
stood opposite the doorway OF NO 40zo
Madison avenue. A tall man was de-
scending the steps: / recognized Bing-
ham, member of my club, and re-
called the torn up visiting card that
/ had found in the library. So Bing-
ham was one of us.
Now 1 don't know Bingham except
by sight, and shouldn't have cared
to stop and question him, anyway.
But I got one glimpse of his face as
he hurried away, and it looked gray
under the electrics. Call it the effect
of the arc light, if you like; he was
hurrying, certainly, and it struck me
that it was because he was anxious
to get away.
Many are the motives that send men
into adventurous situations, but there
is at least one among them that is
compelling-hunger 1 have said that
l had gone to the club for dinner;
did not say that 1 got it, To be hon
est, had hoped for an invitation
charity, if you insist upon it. But 1
had been unfortunate. None of my
particular friends had CHANGED to be
around, and Jockeys cocktail had
been the only hospitality proffered me.
You remember that my pocket had
been picked yesterday morning, and
since thef-Well l had eaten nothing.
I might have signed the dinner check,
you say. Quite true, but | shall prob
ably be as pennilesS on the first of the
month as am today, and then what?
Too much. like helping ones self from
a friends pocket.
So it was just blind primeval i'm
pulse that urged me on. This Mr.. IN
diman had chosen to fish in muddy wa
tiers, and his rashness but matched
my necessity. A host must expect to
entertain his guests. / walked up the
steps and rang the bell. GO -
Instantly the door opened, and
most respectable looking serving man
confronted me. ~
Mr. Indiman will see you present
ly," he said, before / had chance to
get out a word. This way, sir"
The house was of the modern Amer
lean basement type, and was ushered
into a small reception room on the
right of the entrance hall. will you
have the Post, sir? Or any of the IL
Illustrated papers? Just as you please,
sir; thank you"
The man withdrew, and T sat look