144

XIII BEAUTY IN THE SPOT-LIGHT 158

XIV AN OLD SCORE EVENED UP 172

XV TAKING HIS MONEY 183

XVI ENJOYING THEMSELVES 201

XVII J. RUFUS SEEKS INVESTMENT 219

XVIII SPECULATION IN REAL ESTATE 231

XIX A GREAT ART CENTER 251

XX ETRUSCAN BLACK MUD 264

XXI THE GREAT VITTOREO MATTEO 279

XXII THE SURPRISE OF HIS LIFE 288

XXIII STILL ANOTHER SURPRISE 298

XXIV A STRAIGHT BUSINESS 306

XXV THE SCIATACATA COMPANY 318

XXVI A DELUSION AND A SNARE 331

XXVII LAUGH AT THAT WOOZY FEELING 341

YOUNG
WALLINGFORD

CHAPTER I

WHEREIN JONATHAN REUBEN WIX BEGINS TO THINK

"A natural again!" exulted Jonathan Reuben Wix, as the dice bounded
from his plump hand and came to rest upon the billiard-table in
Leiniger's Select Cafe, with a five and a deuce showing. "Somebody
ring the bell for me, because I'm a-going to get off."

He was a large young man in every dimension, broad of chest and big
and pink of face and jovial of eye, and he chuckled as he passed the
dice to his left-hand neighbor. There was a hundred dollars on the
table and he gathered it up in a wad.

"Good-by, boys, and many merry thanks for these kind contributions,"
he bantered as he stuffed the money into his pocket. "It's me for
Bunkville-amidst-the-ferry-boats, on the next Limited."

He was back in less than three days, having spent just twenty-four
hours in New York. The impulsively decided journey was nothing unusual
for him, but it had an intimate bearing upon his future in that it
forced upon him the confidence of secretive Clifford Gilman, who lived
next door.

"Home so soon?" inquired Gilman in surprise. "They must have robbed
you!"

"Robbed!" laughed Wix. "I should say not. I didn't waste a cent.
Railroad ticket, sleepers, meals and extra fare on the Limited cost
twenty-five each way. That left fifty. My room at the hotel cost five
dollars. Breakfast was two dollars; morning drive through Central
Park, four; lunch, three-fifty; matinee ticket, with cab each way,
five; dinner, eight, with the ordinary champagne of commerce; theater
and cab hire, five-fifty; supper, twelve, including