Part 2 (1/2)
Isn't it a peach?”
”What?”
”That song It made them look like a rainy day Git up!” And Mr
Mackintosh prodded the bony ribs of their steed
Mr Heatherbloo motor had vanished
CHAPTER II
VARYING FORTUNES
Mr Heatherbloom's new-found employment proved but ephemeral The next day the sheriff took possession of thethe no The contents of the last the composer-publisher took care to put beyond reach of his ly care-free, if artificial, jocularity Mr Heatherbloom walked soberly forth from the shop of concord
He had but turned the corner of the street when into the now dissonant ”hole in the wall”, amid the scene of wreck and disaster, stepped a tall dark lish with an accent and who regarded the erstwhile proprietor and the ance and disfavor
”You have,” he began in halting tones, ”a young s on the street like the minstrels of old, the--what you call them?--troubadours”
”We _had_,” corrected Mr Mackintosh ”He has just 'jumped the coup,' or rather been 'shooed out'”
The new-coaze upon the other; he had superb, ale as I understand it?”
he said And the other did, for there was that in the caller's manner which compelled immediate compliance Immovably he listened to the composer-publisher's explanation
”_Eh bien!”_ he said, his handsoh when Mr
Mackintosh had concluded ”He is gone; it is well; I have fulfilled er hailed a taxi and disappeared frohborhood
Meanwhile Mr Horatio Heatherbloom had walked slowly on; he was now soo? His fortunes had not been enhanced materially by his brief excursion into the realms of melody; he had thirty cents in cash and a ”dollar-and-a-half appetite” An untidy place where they displayed a bargain assortht of meals in the past--of caviar, a la Russe, three dollars and a half a portion; peaches Melba, three francs each at the Cafe de Paris; truffled capon from Normandy; duck after the manner of the incomparable Frederic
About half a dozen peaches Melba would have appealed to hi at a codfish ball Oh, glorious appetite,recollections of hours of satiety!
Should he yield to temptation? He stopped; then prudence prevailed The day was yet too young to give way recklessly to casual gastrono his head froive way, he started to turn into a side street--but didn't
Instead, he laughed slightly to himself What! flee frolorious retreat before a phalanx of uratively) in the eye Having, as it were, fairly stared out of countenance the bland pies and beamed with stern contempt upon the ”droopy,” Preraphaelite celery, he went, better satisfied, on his way It is these little victories that count; at that ht of old for steadfastness of purpose His lips veiled a covert s a little odd and whier could not wholly annihilate The lock of hair seemed to droop rather pathetically at that htly pinched; his face was pale It would probably be paler before the day was over; _n'importe!_ The future had to be met--for better, or worse Multitudes passed this way and that; an elevated went crashi+ng by; devastating influences seemed to surround him His slender forer, not in front of an eating establishe of newspaper ”want ads” for ”trained” men, in all walks of life
”Trained” men? Hateful word! How often had he encountered it! Ah, here was one advertiseerly The iteeneral incapacity and uselessness, exercised an odd fascination for hi to possess a fractional part of those moral attributes demanded by the fair advertiser She--a Miss Van Rolsen--was seeking a paragon, not a person Nevertheless, he resolved to assail the apparently unassailable, and repaired to a certain ultrafashi+onable neighborhood of the town
Before a brownstone front that bore the nuht, he paused a moment, drew a deep breath and started to walk up the front steps But with a short laugh he came suddenly to a halt half-way up; looked over the stone balustrade down at the other entrance below--the tradesmen's--the butchers', the bakers', the candlestick makers'--and, yes, the servants'--their way in!--his?
He went down the steps and walked on and away as a ood deal of going this way and that, and then stopping, during the last few s had to be worked out, and sometimes his brain didn't seem to move very quickly
To be worked out! He now surveyed the butchers' and the bakers' (and yes, the servants') entrance with casual or philosophic interest froe point of the other side of the street It wasn't different froaze Then he walked across the street again and went in--or down It didn't really seeate it, in a high impersonal way; not half so bad as the subway, and people didn't mind that
Still Mr Heatherbloom experienced a peculiar thrill when he put up his thumb, pressed a button, and wondered what next would happen Who answered doors down here,--the maid--the cook--the laundress? He felt hi there in the shadow, and tried to assu _was_ proper under the circu heard or read that the butcher's boy is usually favored with a broadly defying and independent visage; that he co A cat-e of front steps soo, had possessed a melancholy manner and countenance
How should he comport himself; what should he say--when the inevitable happened; when the ti? How lead the conversation by natural and easy stages to the purport of his visit? He rehearsed a few sentences, then straightway forgot the? Did they always keep people as long as that--down here?
He put his thuain--
”Well, what do you want?” The door had opened and a buxoarded hiaze with interest; it _was_ the cook, then, who acted as door tender of these regions subterranean He feared by her expression that he had interrupted her in the preparation of some esculent delicacy, and with the fear was born a parenthetical inquiry; he wondered what that delicacyto inquire he stated his business