The Washington herald., 1920-08-19
AIN OINFLNIOHED SlORY By O. HENRY
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in art; but it had never been up
set. Her rest had never been dis
turbcd by whispers of stolen
cOpes; no critic had elevated his
eyebrows at her infantiIe entom-
oloGist.
Piggy was to call for her at
seven. While she swiftly makes
ready, let us discreetly face the
other way and gossip.
For the room, Dulcie paid two
dollars per week. On week days
her breakfast cost ten cents; she
made coffee and cooked an egg
over the gasIight while she was
dressing. On Sunday morning
she fcasted royalty on veal chops
and pineapple frittcTs at "Billy's'
restaurant, at cost OF twenty
five cents-and tipped the wait
ress ten cents New York presents
so many temptations for one to
run into extravaganza. She had
her lunches in the department
store restaurant at a cost of sixty
cents for the week; dinners were
$1.05. The evening papers-show
me New Yorker going without
his daily papcr,-came to six
cents; and two Sunday papers
one for the personal column and
the other to rcad-wcre ten cents.
The total amounts to $4.76. Now.
one has to buy clothes, and
l give it up. l hear of wonder
full bargains in fabrics. and of
miracles performed with needle
and thread; but l am in doubt.
hold my pen poised in vain when
I would add to DulciCs life some
OF those joys that belong to wom-
an by virtue of all the unwritten.
sacred. natural, inactive ordi-
nanccs of the equity Of heaven.
Twice she had been to Coney
Island and had ridden the hobby
horses. 'Tis weary thing to
count your pleasures by sum-
mcrs instead of by hours.
Piggy needs but a word. When
the girls named him, an unde-
serving stigma was cast upon the
noble family of swine. The
words f-three-letters lesson in
the old blue spelling book begins
with Piggy's biography. He was
fat; he had the soul Of a rat.
the habits of a bat. and the mag
nanimity of cat. He
wore expensive clothes; and was
COnnOisseur in starvation. He
could look at a shOp-girl and tell
you to an hour how long it had
been since she had eaten anything
more nOurishinC than marShmal-
lows and tea. He hung about the
shopping districts, and prowled
around in department stores with
his Invitations to dinner. Men
who escort dogs upon the streets
at the end of a string look down
upon him. He is a type. ! can
dwell upon him no longer; my
pen is not the kind intended for
him; l am no carpenter.
At ten minutes to seven Dulcie
was ready. She looked at herself
in the wrinkly mirror. The re-
f1eCtion was satisfactory. The
dark blue dress. fitting without a
wrinkle, the hat with its jaunty
black feather. the but-slightly-
soiled Elo~es-all representing
self-denial, even of food itself
were vastly becoming.
Dulcie forgot everything else
for a moment except that she was
beautiful. and that life was about
to lift a corner of it's mysterious
veil for her to observe its won
ders. No gentleman had ever
asked her out before. Now she
was going for a brief moment
into the glitter and exalted show.
The girls said that Piggy was
a "spender." There would be a
grand, dinner, and music, and
splendidly dressed ladies to look
at, and things to eat that strange
" twisted the girls paws when
they tried to tell about them. No
doubt she would be asked out
again.
There was a blue pongee suit in
window that she kneY-by saw
ing 20 cents a week instead of 10,
ln-lets see-oh, 1t would run in
to years! But there was a Sec