t. Where he dealt, there you would hear the tramp
of many feet. He made Schwitzer's fortune. Wonderful man, Brummel.
Wonderful man, and I like him if he does owe me a thousand pounds thirty
years past due. Egad! it has been so long since I carried a stick I have
almost lost the knack of the thing. A stick is a useful thing to a
gentleman. Gives him grace, furnishes occupation for his hands. Gloves
in one hand, stick in the other--no man need get his hands mixed. Got
this stick down on Washington Street an hour ago. How do I seem to
handle it?" He walked across the room, holding the stick in the most
approved fashion--of thirty years before.

"It's fine, Billy Little, it's fine," answered Dic, sorry to see an
apparent weakness in his little friend, though loving him better for
the sake of it. The past had doubled back on Billy for a day, and he
felt a touch of his youth--of that olden time when the first dandy of
England was heir-apparent to the crown and blubbered over an ill-fitting
coat. If you will look at the people of those times through the lens of
that fact, you will see something interesting and amusing.

After many glances toward the mirror, Billy announced that he was ready,
and marched upon Miss Tousy, exulting in the fact that there was not in
all the state another coat like the one he wore. Billy's vanity, to do
him justice, was not at all upon his own account. He wished to appear
well for Dic's sake, and ransacked his past life for points in etiquette
and manner once familiar, but now almost forgotten by him and by the
world. His quaint old resurrections were comical and apt to create
mirth, but beneath their oddities I believe a discerning person would
easily have recognized the gentleman.

I shall not describe to you Billy's Regency bow when Dic presented him
to Miss Tousy; nor shall I bring into his conversation all the "My dear
madams," "Dear ladys," and "Beg pardons," scattered broadcast in his
effort to do credit to his protege. But Miss Tousy liked Billy, while
she enjoyed his old-fashioned affectations; and in truth the man was in
all respects worthy of the coat.

"Rita is very ill," Miss Tousy said. "Mrs. Bays says your conduct almost
killed her daughter. Two doctors are with her now."

"Terrible, my dear madam, terrible," interrupted Billy, and Miss Tousy
continued:--

"I whispered to Rita that you would remain, and she murmured, 'I'm so
glad. Tell him mother forced me to promise that I wou