he still seemed to have the same stuffing. He had been deported by the
authorities, the offense being stated as "insolence and profanity";
in fact, he had given the principal of the school instructions almost
identical with those formerly objected to by the Reverend Malloch Smith.

But he had not got his come-upance, and those who counted upon it
were embittered by his appearance upon the down-town streets driving
a dog-cart at criminal speed, making pedestrians retreat from the
crossings, and behaving generally as if he "owned the earth." A
disgusted hardware dealer of middle age, one of those who hungered for
Georgie's downfall, was thus driven back upon the sidewalk to avoid
being run over, and so far forgot himself as to make use of the pet
street insult of the year: "Got 'ny sense! See here, bub, does your
mother know you're out?"

Georgie, without even seeming to look at him, flicked the long lash of
his whip dexterously, and a little spurt of dust came from the hardware
man's trousers, not far below the waist. He was not made of hardware:
he raved, looking for a missile; then, finding none, commanded himself
sufficiently to shout after the rapid dog-cart: "Turn down your pants,
you would-be dude! Raining in dear ole Lunnon! Git off the earth!"

Georgie gave him no encouragement to think that he was heard. The
dog-cart turned the next corner, causing indignation there, likewise,
and, having proceeded some distance farther, halted in front of the
"Amberson Block"--an old-fashioned four-story brick warren of lawyers
offices, insurance and realestate offices, with a "drygoods store"
occupying the ground floor. Georgie tied his lathered trotter to
a telegraph pole, and stood for a moment looking at the building
critically: it seemed shabby, and he thought his grandfather ought to
replace it with a fourteen-story skyscraper, or even a higher one, such
as he had lately seen in New York--when he stopped there for a few days
of recreation and rest on his way home from the bereaved school. About
the entryway to the stairs were various tin signs, announcing the
occupation and location of upper-floor tenants, and Georgie decided to
take some of these with him if he should ever go to college. However,
he did not stop to collect them at this time, but climbed the worn
stairs--there was no elevator--to the fourth floor, went down a dark
corridor, and rapped three times upon a door. It was a mysterious door,
its upper half, o