come
in to get their dinner; that duty accomplished and they would go forth
to attend the missionary meeting, or the Bible meeting, or the tract
meeting, or some other good meeting; but those and the hotel dinner were
distinct and separate matters, and the little Bibleless heathen, who
served them to oysters and coffee, went on his way, and they went
theirs. But God looked down upon them all. As the days passed, the three
boys, whose lives had been cast in such different molds, met often.
Pliny Hastings liked exceedingly to come to the hotel for his dinner,
and, loitering around wherever best suited his fancy, await his father's
carriage. This was very much pleasanter than the long walk alone; and he
liked to bring Ben Phillips with him--first, because he was in some
respects a generous-hearted boy, and liked to bestow upon Ben the
handsome dinners which he knew how to order; and secondly, because he
was a pompous boy, and liked to show off his grandeur to his simple
friend. Was there another reason never owned even to each other, why
these two boys loved to come to that place rather than to their pleasant
homes? Did it lie in the bottom of those bright glasses filled with
"something nice and warm," which Pliny never forgot to order? Sometimes
little Mrs. Phillips worried, and good-natured Mr. Phillips laughed and
"poohed" at her fancies. Sometimes Mr. Hastings sharply forbade his
son's visits to his favorite hotel, and the next windy day sent him
thither to dine. Sometimes his fond mother thought his face singularly
flushed, and wondered why he suffered so much from headache; but only
Tode who had come up in the atmosphere, and knew all about it, cool,
indifferent Tode, looked with wise eyes upon the two boys, and remarked
philosophically to himself:

"Them two fellows will get drunk some day, fore they know what they're
up to."

[Illustration]

CHAPTER VII.

TWO T'S.

Evil days had fallen upon Tode. He stood before the window with an
unmistakable frown on his face. The demon "Ambition" had taken
possession of him, and metamorphosed him so that he didn't know himself.
The Hastings' carriage passed in its elegant beauty, and as Tode gazed
his frown deepened. Not that he wanted to be seated among the velvet
cushions with Mrs. Hastings and Miss Dora. Oh no, he still belonged to
that other sphere; but he did long with a burning, absorbing passion to
be seated on the box, not with the driver, but alone, himse