sort of thing. In New York (he ground his teeth, proving that he
retained them) no one cared whether he lived or died. He hated New
York. He would have been friendly to New York--cheerfully, gladly--if
New York had been willing to meet him halfway. It was friendly to
Nellie; why couldn't it be friendly to him? He was her husband. Why,
confound it all, out in Blakeville, where they came from, he was
somebody while she was merely "that girl of Ted Barkley's." He had
drawn soda water for her a hundred times and she had paid him in
pennies! Only five years ago. Sometimes she had the soda water
charged; that is to say, she had it put on her mother's bill. Ted
couldn't get credit anywhere in town.

And now look at her! She was getting six hundred dollars a week and
spurned soda water as if it were poison.

His chin dropped lower. The dreamy look deepened.

"Doggone it," he mused for the hundredth time, "I could have been a
partner in the store by this time if I'd stuck to Mr. Davis."

He was thinking of Davis' drug store, in Main Street, and the striped
blazer he wore while tending the soda fount in the summer time. A red
and yellow affair, that blazer was. Before the "pharmacy law" went
into effect he was permitted to put up prescriptions while Mr. Davis
was at meals. Afterward he was restricted to patent medicines,
perfumes, soaps, toilet articles, cigars, razor strops, and all such,
besides soda water in season. Moreover, when circuses came to town the
reserved-seat sale was conducted in Davis' drug store. He always had
passes without asking for them.

Yes, he might have been a partner by this time. He drew a lot of trade
to the store. Mr. Davis could not have afforded to let him go
elsewhere.

Five years ago! It seemed ages. He was twenty-three when he left
Blakeville. Wasted ages! Somehow he liked the ready-made garments he
used to buy at the Emporium much better than those he wore
nowadays--fashionable duds from Fifth Avenue at six times the price.
He used to be busy from seven A.M. till ten P.M., and he was happy.
Nowadays he had nothing to do but get up and shave and take Phoebe for
walks, eat, read the papers, tell stories to Phoebe, and go to bed. To
be sure, the food was good and plentiful, the bed was soft, and the
cottage more attractive than anything Blakeville could boast of;
Phoebe was a joy and Nellie a jewel, but--heigh-ho! he might have been
a partner in Davis' drug store if he'd stayed in the old