if he chose, but he would find it a dull place to spend an evening."

Dick was pulling away at his corn-cob pipe the first time Charlie came,
but moved to hide it from sight as the latter entered the room. Then
thinking better of it, with a proud lifting of his chin, he stuck the
pipe in his mouth again. However, Charlie noticed that the smoke soon
ceased to come from his companion's lips, and guessed that the tobacco
was not burning well. This was the last time that he ever saw Dick
smoking. Indeed, it was the last time that Dick ever used tobacco in
any form. "For," said he to himself, "I can't afford to do anything
that robs babies and mothers, and makes me disagreeable to my friends."

The ice once broken, Charlie's calls grew more and more frequent, until
the two met and talked like old friends, and often left the office to
walk about the city, arm in arm, after dark.

"Mr. Udell," said Dick, one Saturday night, as the latter handed him
his wages for the week, "Where's the best place to go for clothing?"

And George, with a pleased look on his face, which Dick could not help
but notice, directed him to a clothing store on the corner of Fourth
and Broadway.




CHAPTER VII


The quiet of a Sunday morning in early May was over the city. Stores