t
"two-stepper" in town, suddenly became conscious of his feet. Then, too,
the contents of the three trunks which had been sent on from school were
now in evidence. No Boston or Brockton "Advanced Styles" held a candle
to those suits which the tailor of the late Miguel Carlos had turned out
for his patron's only son. No other eighteen-year-older among the town's
year-around residents possessed a suit of evening clothes. Albert wore
his "Tux" at the Red Men's Ball and hearts palpitated beneath new muslin
gowns and bitter envy stirred beneath the Brockton "Advanced Styles."

In consequence, by spring the social status of Albert Speranza among
those of his own age in the village had become something like this: He
was in high favor with most of the girls and in corresponding disfavor
with most of the young fellows. The girls, although they agreed that he
was "stand-offish and kind of queer," voted him "just lovely, all the
same." Their envious beaux referred to him sneeringly among themselves
as a "stuck-up dude." Some one of them remembered having been told that
Captain Zelotes, years before, had been accustomed to speak of his hated
son-in-law as "the Portygee." Behind his back they formed the habit
of referring to their new rival in the same way. The first time Albert
heard himself called a "Portygee" was after prayer meeting on Friday
evening, when, obeying a whim, he had walked home with Gertie Kendrick,
quite forgetful of the fact that Sam Thatcher, who aspired to be
Gertie's "steady," was himself waiting on the church steps for that
privilege.

Even then nothing might have come of it had he and Sam not met in the
path as he was sauntering back across lots to the main road and home. It
was a brilliant moonlight night and the pair came together, literally,
at the bend where the path turns sharply around the corner of Elijah
Doane's cranberry shanty. Sam, plowing along, head down and hands in his
pockets, swung around that corner and bumped violently into Albert,
who, a cigarette between his lips--out here in the fields, away from
civilization and Captain Zelotes, was a satisfyingly comfortable place
to smoke a cigarette--was dreaming dreams of a future far away from
South Harniss. Sam had been thinking of Gertie. Albert had not. She had
been a mere incident of the evening; he had walked home with her because
he happened to be in the mood for companionship and she was rather
pretty and always talkative. His dreams duri