Part 1 (2/2)

We had a semi-panic last week. Prices went to the devil. Stocks broke twenty points. You should have seen the excitement on the Exchange floor. Our football rushes were nothing to it. I tell you, it's great.

It's got college beaten to a frazzle!” Quickly he added: ”What are you doing?”

Howard averted his eyes and hung his head.

”Nothing,” he answered gloomily.

c.o.xe had quickly taken note of his former cla.s.smate's shabby appearance.

He had also heard of his escapades.

”Didn't you hear?” muttered Howard. ”Row with governor, marriage and all that sort of thing?

”Of course,” he went on, ”father's d.a.m.nably unjust, actuated by absurd prejudice. Annie's a good girl and a good wife, no matter what her father was. D----n it, this is a free country! A man can marry whom he likes. All these ideas about family pride and family honor are old-world notions, foreign to this soil. I'm not going to give up Annie to please any one. I'm as fond of her now as ever. I haven't regretted a moment that I married her. Of course, it has been hard. Father at once shut down money supplies, making my further stay at Yale impossible, and I was forced to come to New York to seek employment. We've managed to fix up a small flat in Harlem and now, like Micawber, I'm waiting for something to turn up.”

c.o.xe nodded sympathetically.

”Come and have a drink,” he said cheerily.

Howard hesitated. Once more he remembered his promise to Annie, but as long as he had broken it once he would get no credit for refusing now.

He was horribly thirsty and depressed. Another drink would cheer him up.

It seemed even wicked to decline when it wouldn't cost him anything.

They entered a bar conveniently close at hand, and with a tremulous hand Howard carried greedily to his lips the insidious liquor which had undermined his health and stolen away his manhood.

”Have another?” said c.o.xe with a smile as he saw the gla.s.s emptied at a gulp.

”I don't care if I do,” replied Howard. Secretly ashamed of his weakness, he shuffled uneasily on his feet.

”Well, what are you going to do, old man?” demanded c.o.xe as he pushed the whiskey bottle over.

”I'm looking for a job,” stammered Howard awkwardly. Hastily he went on: ”It isn't so easy. If it was only myself I wouldn't mind. I'd get along somehow. But there's the little girl. She wants to go to work, and I won't hear of it. I couldn't stand for that, you know.”

c.o.xe feared a ”touch.” Awkwardly he said:

”I wish I could help you, old man. As it is, my own salary barely serves to keep me in neckwear. Wall Street's great fun, but it doesn't pay much; that is, not unless you play the game yourself.”

Howard smiled feebly as he replied:

”Nonsense--I wouldn't accept help of that sort. I'm not reduced to soliciting charity yet. I guess I'd prefer the river to that. But if you hear of anything, keep me in mind.”

The athlete made no response. He was apparently lost in thought when suddenly he blurted out:

”Say, Jeffries, you haven't got any money, have you--say a couple of thousand dollars?”

Howard stared at the questioner as if he doubted his sanity.

”Two thousand dollars!” he gasped. ”Do you suppose that I'd be wearing out shoe leather looking for a job, if I had two thousand dollars?”

c.o.xe looked disappointed as he replied:

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