"Thank you," said Dick. "I will come some other evening with pleasure;
but if I stay away without saying anything about it, Fosdick won't know
what's become of me."

Dick got back to Bleecker Street a little late for dinner. When he
entered the dining-room, the remainder of the boarders were seated at
the table.

"Come, Mr. Hunter, you must render an account of yourself," said Miss
Peyton, playfully. "Why are you late this evening?"

"Suppose I don't tell," said Dick.

"Then you must pay a fine,--mustn't he, Mrs. Browning?"

"That depends upon who is to benefit by the fines," said the landlady.
"If they are to be paid to me, I shall be decidedly in favor of it. That
reminds me that you were late to breakfast this morning, Miss Peyton."

"Oh, ladies mustn't be expected to pay fines," said Miss Peyton, shaking
her ringlets. "They never have any money, you know."

"Then I think we must let Mr. Hunter off," said Mrs. Browning.

"If he will tell us what has detained him. You must excuse my curiosity,
Mr. Hunter, but ladies, you know, are privileged to be curious."

"I don't mind telling," said Dick, helping himself to a piece of toast.
"I'm talking of buying some lots up-town, and went up with a friend to
look at them."

Fosdick looked at Dick, inquiringly, not knowing if he were in earnest
or not.

"Indeed!" said Mr. Clifton. "May I inquire where the lots are situated?"

"I'll tell you if I buy them," said Dick; "but I don't want to run the
risk of losing them."

"You needn't be afraid of my cutting you out," said Clifton. "I paid my
washerwoman this morning, and haven't got but a dollar and a half over.
I suppose that won't buy the property."

"I wish it would," said Dick. "In that case I'd buy half a dozen lots."

"I suppose, from your investing in lots, Mr. Hunter, that you are
thinking of getting married, and living in a house of your own," said
Miss Peyton, simpering.

"No," said Dick, "I shan't get married for a year. Nobody ought to be
married before they're seventeen."

"That's just my age," said Miss Peyton.

Mr. Clifton afterwards informed Dick that Miss Peyton was twenty-five,
but did not mention how he had ascertained. He likewise added that when
he first came to the boarding-house, she had tried her fascinations upon
him.

"She'd have married me in a minute," he said complacently; "but I'm too
old a bird to be caught that way. When you see Mrs. Clifton, gentlemen,
you'll see style an