ly. You may not consider
me a gentleman," and I glanced down at my cheap suit. "Yet surely you
cannot regard me as a mere brute."

She continued to gaze at me, her eyes misty, yet full of wonderment.
My language was not that of the slums, nor were my manners. To her I
must have seemed as strange a character, as she appeared to me. We
were both advancing blindly through the dark.

"You are also," she affirmed finally, as if half regretting the words.
"You are just as penniless as I."

"Why should you say that?"

"Because I know," and by now her eyes were blinded by the tears
clinging to her lashes. "You--you humiliated yourself to serve me;
you--you were obliged to pawn something in security for this food.
I--I saw you--your excuse for leaving me outside was just a sham. You
had no money. I watched through the window, and--and I almost ran
away, only my promise held me."

I laughed uneasily, yet sobered almost at once, leaning across the
table, all earlier embarrassment vanished.

"Well, even at that, it would not be my first experience," I said
swiftly. "Poverty is extremely unpleasant, but not a crime. Do not
let that unfortunate condition of my exchequer spoil your appetite, my
girl. I can assure you that is among the least of my troubles. In
fact I have of late become hardened to that state of affairs. My life
has been up and down; I 've ridden the top wave of prosperity, and have
knocked against the rocks at the bottom. Lately I 've been on the
rocks. But good luck, or bad, I am not the sort to desert a woman in
distress."

"You are a man of some education?"

"Two years at the University."

"And now?"

I smiled grimly, determined to admit the worst.

"Little better than a tramp, I suppose, although I have held a job
lately--driving for a lumber yard across the river."

A moment she sat in silence, her eyes lowered to the table.

"What--what was that you offered the man for security?" she asked
quietly.

"Oh, nothing much. It had no intrinsic value, and the fellow would not
even accept it. He was willing to trust me."

"Yes, but tell me what it was? Something you valued highly?"

I felt my cheeks reddening, yet there was no reason why I should not
answer.

"It was a medal, an army medal."

"You were in the army then?"

"Yes, I served an enlistment in the Philippines, and was invalided
home; discharged at the Presidio. Someway I have been up against tough
luck ever since I