anks," says he. "I--I'll see you again--perhaps."

I loved the way he puts that last touch on too, and you could almost
hear the sigh of relief as he fades down the aisle, leavin' me in one
stockin' foot gawpin' after him.

No wonder I'm left open faced! Skeet Keyser in a tail coat, orderin'
nine-dollar pumps sent to his hotel! Why, say, more'n once I've staked
him to the price of a twenty-cent lodgin', and the only way I ever got
any of it back was by tippin' him off to this vacancy on the coffee urn
at the dairy lunch. Used to be copy boy on the Sunday, Skeet did; but
that was 'way back. It didn't last long either; for he was just as punk
a performer at that as he ever was at any of the other things he's
tackled.

Gettin' the can tied to him was always Skeet's specialty. No mystery
about that, either; for of all the useless specimens that ever grafted
cigarettes he was about the limit. All he lacks is pep and bean and a
few other trifles. You wouldn't exactly call him ornamental, either. No,
him and that Apolloniris guy was quite diff'rent in their front and side
elevation. Mostly arms and legs, Skeet is, and sort of swivel-jointed
all over, with a back slope to his forehead and an under-cut chin.
Nothin' reticent about his beak, though. It juts out from the middle of
his face like the handle of a lovin' cup, and with his habit of
stretchin' his neck forward he always seems to be followin' a scent,
like one of these wienerwurst retrievers.

Brought up somewhere back of Jefferson Market, down in old Greenwich
Village--if you know where that is. He's the only boy in a fam'ly of
five, and I understand all the Keyser girls have done first rate; one
bein' forelady in a big hair-dressin' joint, another married to the
lieutenant of a hook and ladder company, and two well placed in service.

It was through bein' in on a little mix-up Skeet had with one of his
sisters that I got so well posted on the fam'ly hist'ry. Must have been
more'n a year ago, while Old Hickory was laid up at home there for a
spell, and I was chasin' back and forth from the Corrugated to the
Ellins house most every day. This time I hears a debate goin' on down at
the area door, and the next thing I knows out comes Skeet, assisted
active by the butler.

Seems that one of the new maids is his sister Maggie, and he'd just been
callin' friendly in the hopes of sep'ratin' her from a dollar or so. It
wa'n't Maggie's day for contributin' to the prodigal s