don't
she! We not only keep Chapman's goods in the public eye, but we face
all the horrors of Brooklyn to preserve his family from unlawful
occasions. No, I don't like the company that bookseller runs with. If
'nach Philadelphia' is the word, I think I'll tag along. I guess it's
off for Philadelphia in the morning!"

Chapter XIII

The Battle of Ludlow Street

Rarely was a more genuine tribute paid to entrancing girlhood than when
Aubrey compelled himself, by sheer force of will and the ticking of his
subconscious time-sense, to wake at six o'clock the next morning. For
this young man took sleep seriously and with a primitive zest. It was
to him almost a religious function. As a minor poet has said, he "made
sleep a career."

But he did not know what train Roger might be taking, and he was
determined not to miss him. By a quarter after six he was seated in
the Milwaukee Lunch (which is never closed--Open from Now Till the
Judgment Day. Tables for Ladies, as its sign says) with a cup of
coffee and corned beef hash. In the mood of tender melancholy common
to unaccustomed early rising he dwelt fondly on the thought of Titania,
so near and yet so far away. He had leisure to give free rein to these
musings, for it was ten past seven before Roger appeared, hurrying
toward the subway. Aubrey followed at a discreet distance, taking care
not to be observed.

The bookseller and his pursuer both boarded the eight o'clock train at
the Pennsylvania Station, but in very different moods. To Roger, this
expedition was a frolic, pure and simple. He had been tied down to the
bookshop so long that a day's excursion seemed too good to be true. He
bought two cigars--an unusual luxury--and let the morning paper lie
unheeded in his lap as the train drummed over the Hackensack marshes.
He felt a good deal of pride in having been summoned to appraise the
Oldham library. Mr. Oldham was a very distinguished collector, a
wealthy Philadelphia merchant whose choice Johnson, Lamb, Keats, and
Blake items were the envy of connoisseurs all over the world. Roger
knew very well that there were many better-known dealers who would have
jumped at the chance to examine the collection and pocket the
appraiser's fee. The word that Roger had had by long distance
telephone was that Mr. Oldham had decided to sell his collection, and
before putting it to auction desired the advices of an expert as to the
prices his items should command