looked wistfully at them, rubbed
his hand over them softly, felt the money in his pocket; and came out.
He said he thought he might come in again. Next day he did not have the
money. Kitty wrote him she could not leave home to go to school on their
mother's account, but she would buy books, and she was learning; she
would learn fast, her mother was teaching her; and he was the best
brother in the world, the whole world; and they had a secret, but he
must wait.

One day Jim got a big bundle from down the country. It was a new suit
of clothes. On top was a letter from Kitty. This was the secret. She
and her mother had sent for the cloth and had made them; they hoped they
would fit. They had cried over them. Jim cried a little too. He put them
on. They did not fit, were much too large. Under Dick Rail's fire Jim
had grown even thinner than before. But he wore them to church. He felt
that it would have been untrue to his mother and Kitty not to wear
them. He was sorry to meet Dick Rail on the street. Dick had on a black
broadcloth coat, a velvet vest, and large-checked trousers. Dick looked
Jim over. Jim winced, flushed a little: he was not so sunburned now.
Dick saw it. Next week Dick caught Jim in a crowd in the "yard" waiting
for their train. He told about the meeting. He made a double shot. He
said, "Boys, Jim's in love, he's got new clothes! you ought to see 'em!"
Dick was graphic; he wound up: "They hung on him like breechin' on his
old mule. By ----! I b'lieve he was too ------ stingy to buy 'em and
made 'em himself." There was a shout from the crowd. Jim's face worked.
He jumped for him. There was a handspike lying near and he seized it.
Some one grabbed him, but he shook him off as if he had been a child.
Why he did not kill Dick no one ever knew. He meant to do it.

For some time they thought he was dead. He laid off for over a month.
After that Jim wore what clothes he chose: no one ever troubled him.

So he went on in the same way: slow, sleepy, stuttering, thin, stingy,
ill-dressed, lame.

He was made a fireman; preferred it to being a conductor, it led to
being an engineer, which paid more. He ran extra trips whenever he
could, up and double straight back. He could stand an immense amount of
work. If he got sleepy he put tobacco in his eyes to keep them open. It
was bad for the eyes, but waked him up. Kitty was going to take music
next year, and that cost money. He had not been home for several months,
bu