Part 10 (2/2)
”I suppose you lost?”
”Yes, I lost every penny, and had to sleep out, cos I hadn't a cent to pay for lodgin'. 'Twas a awful cold night, and I got most froze.”
”Wouldn't Jim let you have any of the money he had won to pay for a lodging?”
”No; I axed him for five cents, but he wouldn't let me have it.”
”Can you get lodging for five cents?” asked Frank, in surprise.
”Yes,” said d.i.c.k, ”but not at the Fifth Avenue Hotel. That's it right out there.”
CHAPTER VII
THE POCKET-BOOK
They had reached the junction of Broadway and of Fifth Avenue.
Before them was a beautiful park of ten acres. On the left-hand side was a large marble building, presenting a fine appearance with its extensive white front. This was the building at which d.i.c.k pointed.
”Is that the Fifth Avenue Hotel?” asked Frank. ”I've heard of it often. My Uncle William always stops there when he comes to New York.”
”I once slept on the outside of it,” said d.i.c.k. ”They was very reasonable in their charges, and told me I might come again.”
”Perhaps sometime you'll be able to sleep inside,” said Frank.
”I guess that'll be when Queen Victoria goes to the Five Points to live.”
”It looks like a palace,” said Frank. ”The queen needn't be ashamed to live in such a beautiful building as that.”
Though Frank did not know it, one of the queen's palaces is far from being as fine a looking building as the Fifth Avenue Hotel.
St. James' Palace is a very ugly-looking brick structure, and appears much more like a factory than like the home of royalty.
There are few hotels in the world as fine-looking as this democratic inst.i.tution.
At that moment a gentleman pa.s.sed them on the sidewalk, who looked back at d.i.c.k, as if his face seemed familiar.
”I know that man,” said d.i.c.k, after he had pa.s.sed. ”He's one of my customers.”
”What is his name?”
”I don't know.”
”He looked back as if he thought he knew you.”
”He would have knowed me at once if it hadn't been for my new clothes,” said d.i.c.k. ”I don't look much like Ragged d.i.c.k now.”
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