IVINGSTONE OF NEW YORK 144

XIII THE HOUR OF DARK FOREBODING 149

XIV A LETTER FROM MR. TRUMAN LIVINGSTONE OF NEW YORK TO MISS
DOROTHY CASTLE OF CLEVELAND 158

XV FINAL STRAWS 165

XVI AT THE END OF THE RAINBOW 176

XVII A TELEGRAM FROM MISS DOROTHY CASTLE OF CLEVELAND TO MR.
TRUMAN LIVINGSTONE OF NEW YORK 187

XVIII GRABBING AT STRAWS 188

XIX A LETTER FROM MR. TRUMAN LIVINGSTONE OF NEW YORK TO MISS
DOROTHY CASTLE OF CLEVELAND 196

XX THE BARK OF THE WOLF 204

XXI THE LETTER LIVINGSTONE READ 209

XXII THE BREAD LINE 214

XXIII THE LAST LETTER--TO MR. AND MRS. TRUMAN LIVINGSTONE, OLD
POINT COMFORT, VIRGINIA 227

The Bread Line

I

THE FIRST DINNER

This is the story of a year, beginning on New Year's eve.

In the main it is the story of four--two artists and two writers--and of
a paper which these four started. Three of them--the artists and one of
the writers--toiled and dwelt together in rooms near Union Square, and
earned a good deal of money sometimes, when matters went well. The
fourth--the other writer--did something in an editorial way, and thus
had a fixed income; that is, he fixed it every Saturday in such manner
that it sometimes lasted until Wednesday of the following week. Now and
then he sold a story or a poem "outside" and was briefly affluent, but
these instances were unplentiful. Most of his spare time he spent in
dreaming vague and hopeless dreams. His dreams he believed in, and,
being possessed of a mesmeric personality, Barrifield sometimes
persuaded others to believe also.

It began--the paper above mentioned--in the cafe of the Hotel Martin,
pronounced with the French "tang," and a good place to get a good dinner
on New Year's eve or in any other season except that of adversity, no
recollection of which period now vexed the mind of the man who did
something in an editorial way, or those of the two artists and the
writer who worked and dwelt together in rooms near Union