Rich Man, Poor Man

duty to see that the dining-room table was set properly and tonight she had been delayed. In spite of her hurry, however, her pace perceptibly slackened as she neared th

na è m

ume mal

fulness. How pleasant i

its homely way, was still not what one would call enlivening; nor were its patrons any the more inspiriting. They were, for the most part, clerks, breadwinners like Mr. Maple

nose in one. He was, in short, what Miss Hultz, the occupant of Mrs. Tilney's third-floor front, so aptly termed a "swell." And when she said swell Miss

f the elect, would probably have been evident

modest, was well kept, so that its guests remained on indefinitely. However, the instant Varick for the first time had entered its dining-room he was looked at

econd-floor back. Briefly he was a bookkeeper in the National Guaranty's R to Z

ged him with her elbow. "Don't blow in your so

they had been as involved as all this, though, he had not even dreamed. A Varick in a boarding house! Again Mr. Jessup had whistled. Howeve

turned to the bookkeeper's chubby lady in the same fra

ied either to awe or to impress. Like Jessup, he too was merely an employee in a bank now, and he made no bones of saying so. The bank was

least to have marred his cheerfulness. Bab felt heartily she had never met anyone so responsive, so entertaining. As she went on down the s

ives and forks, the dining-room door opened and Varick h

eted. "I thought I h

e for the one particular of his necktie. This, with it

" he i

laug

eturned, warned by former experience. "I t

ck n

not lessons-it's less thumbs. N

er hands, she reached up and began pulling and patting the s

" she m

gleam of interest she had seen there more than once of late. It was as if recently Varick had found in her face so

ain. At the same time, though, neither was

e inquired

d suddenly t

in turn she laughed b

ddenly from the stairway, and on stealthy tiptoes dart out of view toward the kitchen

rdon?" he

finished arranging the table. Planted on the hearthrug, Varick watched her. However, though she was

he'd be out all the evening, Bab perched herself on the serving table in the corner, and sat swi

he s

yes, B

as aimlessly. Then her eyes growi

you'll dance besides, I shouldn't wonder?" added Bab, drawing in her breath again

now she hardly cared. There was something Bab meant to ask him pr

e as if she mused; "do you kno

ared anew

up one corner of her mouth; and then as her smile broadened, rippling over her face, Bab's small nose would wri

icking her heels together, her

dances-make-believes. You know how it is, don't you, when you have no other children to play with? I'd make believe I was in a huge ballroom, all alone, and then somewhere music would begin to play! Oh, I can hear it yet-Strauss, the Blue Danube!" Bab's look was misty, rapt; and then with a slender hand

I've never be

nd she saw his face was gra

r face rapt, she still s

manner so manifestly above her surroundings. But Bab's history, vague as it was, gave a hint of the reason. Her mother, a woman who had died years before at Mrs. Tilney's, leaving her child in Mrs. Tilney's hands, manifestly had been a woman

tion. She knew, too, his-that and the gulf it put between them. Young, attractive, a man; the fact that he now was poor had not much altered his social standing. It

difference between that and a Varick married-a Varick setting up for life, say, in a four-

omething,"

p a chair and, seating herself, ben

haven't you-that family uptown.

Beest

ough she wondered at the moment at his air, he

u ask?" he

d out something. Do they ever give parties-dances like th

ouse they occupied in one of the uptown side streets off the Avenue. But though that was true, for som

about them?"

iled v

ere?" she parried. "Old

wonder in hi

mean? How did you kno

mence; "I've only heard about him. He's

Varick had known the boy-t

"why do you ask me about those people? I

erated fo

I heard," she said

e questioned, all the mo

Mapy say it,"

gazed at her, h

sing him endlessly for his idiosyncrasies; but otherwise, as also Varick knew, her heart held for the queer, curious little man a deep well of tenderness, of love and gentle understanding. However, that was not the poin

ts had sought their rest, he had heard Mr. Mapleson softly stirring about. Again and again, too, he could hear him whispering, mumbling to himself. What is more, Varick was not the only

had demanded; "what

ation, Mr. Mapleson had dropped his voice to a whisper. But V

a little strained, a little less free than usual. Then her eye

in laughed awkwardly, "don'

hat question she longed to ask him hovered on her lips now, and with it ther

thing. If at the dance tonight-the dance you're

nodded

prompted

aid Bab; "if things

o, fell suddenly. Then she cau

aged Varick; "if w

too, the eyes fell, dropping before his look. Her confusion was furious and with an abrupt movement, swift and unexpected to him, she slipped from h

he murmured

coxcomb; and what Bab had let him r