after he had well considered them.

When the veteran made his reappearance on the Rialto he looked as if he
might be at peace with all mankind. He had nothing worse than a smile,
even for his enemies. But then his enemies were few. His proverbial good
humor and honesty of purpose disarmed the envious. The influence of
kindly smiles and generous impulses go further in this matter-of-fact
world than many people are willing to acknowledge. A cheerful and
encouraging word frequently helps in the accomplishment of a task which
without its influence might fall flat. Handy's dominant quality was his
uniform good nature. He rarely looked on the dark side of life. He, no
doubt, knew what it meant, but he never paraded his hardships before the
world or bored friends or acquaintances with the hard luck of his lot.
At times he was blue--what man at odd times is not so?--but at such
periods he veiled his heart, face, and feelings and drew the sunshine of
a smile between his disappointments and the outside world. With such a
disposition success, as a rule, is but a question of time.

When he made his first appearance among his confreres his manner was a
study. His face, from constant exposure in the sun, was bronzed and
ruddy and his general get up was what his old friend Smith pronounced
"regardless." In fact, Handy looked so well he scarcely recognized
himself. He generally felt well, but to look the part and feel it is
altogether a different proposition. His adventures with his all-star
company had been so freely discussed in every haunt where actors most do
congregate that inside of a week after the Pleiades returned the
frequenters of the Rialto had the story by heart.

The grand comic opera episode at Oyster Bay especially appealed to a
number of Handy's admirers. There were several who intimated that he go
right in for grand polyglot opera and try and get hold of the
Metropolitan Opera House. He smiled knowingly at the suggestion, and
furthermore gave his volunteer advisers to understand that, in his
estimation, that institution was under the control of much more
accomplished fakers than his ambition aimed to reach. Besides, he
reasoned, he was not the kind of man to attempt to take the bread and
butter away from some other fellow. "My policy," said he, "is to live
and let live; and if you cannot get enough people with the long green,
as they call it, to at least guarantee the rent for the sake of art,
fashion, and display--