t to see Miss Madenda," he tried to explain, even as he was being
hustled away. "I'm all right. I----"

The man gave him a last push and closed the door. As he did so,
Hurstwood slipped and fell in the snow. It hurt him, and some vague
sense of shame returned. He began to cry and swear foolishly.

"God damned dog!" he said. "Damned old cur," wiping the slush from his
worthless coat. "I--I hired such people as you once."

Now a fierce feeling against Carrie welled up--just one fierce, angry
thought before the whole thing slipped out of his mind.

"She owes me something to eat," he said. "She owes it to me."

Hopelessly he turned back into Broadway again and slopped onward and
away, begging, crying, losing track of his thoughts, one after another,
as a mind decayed and disjointed is wont to do.

It was truly a wintry evening, a few days later, when his one distinct
mental decision was reached. Already, at four o'clock, the sombre hue of
night was thickening the air. A heavy snow was falling--a fine picking,
whipping snow, borne forward by a swift wind in long, thin lines. The
streets were bedded with it--six inches of cold, soft carpet, churned to
a dirty brown by the crush of teams and the feet of men. Along Broadway
men picked their way in ulsters and umbrellas. Along the Bowery, men
slouched through it with collars and hats pulled over their ears. In
the former thoroughfare businessmen and travellers were making for
comfortable hotels. In the latter, crowds on cold errands shifted
past dingy stores, in the deep recesses of which lights were already
gleaming. There were early lights in the cable cars, whose usual clatter
was reduced by the mantle about the wheels. The whole city was muffled
by this fast-thickening mantle.

In her comfortable chambers at the Waldorf, Carrie was reading at this
time "Pere Goriot," which Ames had recommended to her. It was so strong,
and Ames's mere recommendation had so aroused her interest, that she
caught nearly the full sympathetic significance of it. For the first
time, it was being borne in upon her how silly and worthless had been
her earlier reading, as a whole. Becoming wearied, however, she yawned
and came to the window, looking out upon the old winding procession of
carriages rolling up Fifth Avenue.

"Isn't it bad?" she observed to Lola.

"Terrible!" said that little lady, joining her. "I hope it snows enough
to go sleigh riding."

"Oh, dear," said Carrie, with whom