early a year. Nearly a year passed in New
York, and he had come to be what he so much desired,--a part of its fast
life,--and now in a moment an old woman's stubbornness had destroyed all
that he had builded.

What would Thomas say when he heard it? What would the other fellows
think? And Hattie? It was plain that she would never notice him again.
He had no doubt but that the malice of Minty Brown would prompt her to
seek out all of his friends and make the story known. Why had he not
tried to placate her by disavowing sympathy with his mother? He would
have had no compunction about doing so, but he had thought of it too
late. He sat brooding over his trouble until the bartender called with
respectful sarcasm to ask if he wanted to lease the glass he had.

He gave back a silly laugh, gulped the rest of the liquor down, and was
ordering another when Sadness came in. He came up directly to Joe and
sat down beside him. "Mr. Hamilton says 'Make it two, Jack,'" he said
with easy familiarity. "Well, what 's the matter, old man? You 're
looking glum."

"I feel glum."

"The divine Hattie has n't been cutting any capers, has she? The dear
old girl has n't been getting hysterical at her age? Let us hope not."

Joe glared at him. Why in the devil should this fellow be so sadly gay
when he was weighted down with sorrow and shame and disgust?

"Come, come now, Hamilton, if you 're sore because I invited myself to
take a drink with you, I 'll withdraw the order. I know the heroic thing
to say is that I 'll pay for the drinks myself, but I can't screw my
courage up to the point of doing so unnatural a thing."

Young Hamilton hastened to protest. "Oh, I know you fellows now well
enough to know how many drinks to pay for. It ain't that."

"Well, then, out with it. What is it? Have n't been up to anything, have
you?"

The desire came to Joe to tell this man the whole truth, just what was
the matter, and so to relieve his heart. On the impulse he did. If he
had expected much from Sadness he was disappointed, for not a muscle of
the man's face changed during the entire recital.

When it was over, he looked at his companion critically through a wreath
of smoke. Then he said: "For a fellow who has had for a full year the
advantage of the education of the New York clubs, you are strangely
young. Let me see, you are nineteen or twenty now--yes. Well, that
perhaps accounts for it. It 's a pity you were n't born older. It 's a
pity m