embarked upon a new career, he perceived the
impropriety of a future director in the Engraving Company going to dine
at "The Fried Cat," and so resolved to take his dinner in the gorgeous
cafe of The Lorne. While he was waiting for the proper moment to
descend thither, he could not get the shoe question out of his mind.
Surely, the boot-boy could not have been so idiotic as to have left
that ancient, broken-down pair at Littimer's threshold! And yet it was
possible. Crombie felt another flush of humility upon his cheeks. Then
he wandered off into reverie upon the multifarious errands of all the
pairs of boots and shoes that had gone forth from the great apartment
house that day. Patter, patter, patter! tramp, tramp!--he imagined he
heard them all walking, stamping, shuffling along toward different
parts of the city, with many different objects, and sending back
significant echoes. Whither had his own ruinous Congress gaiters
gone?--to what destination which they would never have reached had he
been in them? Had they carried their temporary possessor into any such
worriment and trouble as he himself had often traveled through on their
worn but faithful soles?

Breaking off from these idle fancies at length, he went down to the
cafe; and there he had the pleasure of dining at a table not far from
Blanche Littimer. But, to his surprise, she was alone. Her father did
not appear during the meal.

III

The fact was that the awful possibility, mere conjecture of which had
frightened Crombie, had occurred. Littimer had received the young man's
shoes in place of his own.

They happened to fit him moderately well; so that he, likewise, did not
notice the exchange until he had started for his office. He believed in
walking the entire distance, no matter what the weather; and to this
practice he made rare exceptions. But he had not progressed very far
before he became annoyed by an unaccustomed intrusion of dampness that
threatened him with a cold. He looked down, carefully surveyed the
artificial casing of his extremities, and decided to hail the first
unoccupied coupe he should meet. It was some time before he found one;
and when finally he took his seat in the luxurious little bank parlor
at Broad Street, his feet were quite wet.

His surprise at this occurrence was doubled when, on taking off the
shoes and scrutinizing them more closely, he ascertained that they were
the work of his usual maker. What had happened to him?