just enough restraint to urge the young man to add hastily: "An' when he
is gone for good, I will go too."

"Oh, I was not thinking of that, I assure you!" the lady hastened to
say. "That would be rather ungrateful on my part. I accept your
suggestion. May I ask you to be seated?" and Dennis promptly complied.

As he had predicted, the fellow, who had witnessed the conversation, was
compelled to accept its ostensible suggestion, and departed finally with
a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders and a Tammany tilt of his hat over
his eyebrows.

In yielding to his gallant impulse, Dennis was unaware of the fact that
he held, with not exactly picturesque abandon, bosom No. 1 in his right
hand and the other two in his left, which gave him the appearance of
having disposed, in some violent way, of the remainder of several
shirts.

Awakened by the puzzled amusement depicted in the curious gaze with
which the lady surveyed the various bosoms which he held, and encouraged
by the impromptu nature of the entire episode, Dennis, as he realized
the spectacle which he presented, indulged himself in a frank laugh, in
which his companion seemed inclined to join.

The next moment he apologized, and, yielding to the obligation enforced
by the situation, explained his possession of the dickey bosoms and the
curious story which had gone before.

As he proceeded with the candor of genuine enthusiasm, and related the
incredible narrative in his rich, Irish brogue, which affected his
hearer, as it did every one else, with such singular sentiments in
contrast with his remarkable countenance, all traces of punctilious
restraint and artificial reticence vanished, and with the mien of one
who proposes to extract all the entertainment possible from an
undreamed-of experience, the lady urged Dennis to continue.

"I can't do that unless I read the balance from the dickey," said
Dennis. "Would you mind?"

"I should like it very much," replied the lady with gratifying
readiness.

"Well, then," said Dennis, "here goes," and with his musical voice,
which was one of his most inviting characteristics, the young man, on
the basis of all that had preceded the bosom from which he was about to
read, and which he had narrated to his auditor with refreshing _verve_
and an ingenuousness whose vitalizing effect upon her sensibilities he
was far from suspecting, began.

CHAPTER VI

Whoever has witnessed Kean's superb delineation of the ruthless R