ye don't; none o' that guff for me!' You can't think how coarse he
was. Then he walked deliberately over to the door and stood with his
back against it.

"The Bostonian now joined in.

"'It looks as if you had been buncoed, my friend,' he said. 'It's an
old dodge, this, of getting somebody to pay for your dinner, especially
on holidays, and yet I can't see how anybody would pick you out as a
greenhorn. I'd divide the bill with you, but really, as you know, I
haven't the money.' I saw from his tone that he was thinking better of
me.

"'No, I'll pay it myself. You, certainly, were not to blame. Will you
go to my room with me, Mike?' I called him Mike because it seemed the
best way to conciliate the man.

"'How far is it?' he asked, softening a little.

"'Two blocks.'

"'And ye'll pay if I go?'

"'Of course I will pay. Do I look like a man who would cheat you?'

"'All right, come on.'

"I bade the Bostonian good-by, and we started.

"Mike didn't speak a word on the way, nor did I. I felt like a
suspected thief that a policeman was taking to the station-house; I've
passed them many times in the street, and I've often wondered what was
passing in the thief's mind. I knew now. I knew, too, what the
Bostonian thought of me, and the Italian, and Mike.

"Then a shiver went through me, and the next moment I broke out into a
cold sweat. I suddenly remembered that I hadn't any money in my room. I
had given every cent, except two dollars of the amount I had brought
uptown with me, to my washerwoman the night before. The bill was not
due, but Mrs. Jones wanted it for Thanksgiving and so I let her have
it. And yet, gentlemen--would you believe it!--I walked on, trying to
think if there mightn't be some bills in the vest I'd worn the day
before, or in the top drawer of my desk or in a china cup on the
mantel. Really, it was an awful, awful position! I couldn't run! I
couldn't explain. I just had to keep on.

"When I got here I turned up the light and asked him to sit down while
I searched my clothes--you can see what disgrace does for a man--asked
a common, low, vulgar waiter to sit down in my room. He didn't sit
down--he just kept walking round and round, peering into the bookcases,
handling the little things on the mantel, feeling the quality of the
curtain that hangs there at the door--like a pawnbroker making up an
inventory.

"Finally he said: 'Ye got a nice place here'--the first words that had
come from his lip