railroads, half the lumber on the Pacific slope, and lets his wife spend the money,” the Philadelphian went on lazily. > “The West don’t suit her, she says. She just tracks around with the boy and her nerves, trying to find out what’ll amuse him, I guess. Florida, Adirondacks, Lakewood, Hot Springs, New York, and round again. He isn’t much more than a secondhand hotel clerk now. When he’s finished in Europe he’ll be a holy
“What’s the matter with the old man attending to him personally?” said a voice from the frieze ulster.
“Old man’s piling up the rocks. Don’t want to be disturbed, I guess. He’ll find out his error a few years from now. Pity, because there’s a heap of good in the boy if you could get at it.”
“Mit a rope’s end; mit a rope’s end!” growled the German.
Once more the door banged, and a slight, slim-built boy perhaps fifteen years old, a half-smoked cigarette hanging from one corner of his mouth, leaned in over the high footway.
His pasty yellow complexion did not show well on a person of his years, and his look was a mixture of irresolution, bravado, and very cheap smartness. He was dressed in a cherry-coloured blazer, knickerbockers, red stockings, and bicycle shoes, with a red flannel cap at the back of the head.
After whistling between his teeth, as he eyed the company, he said in a loud, high voice:
“Say, it’s thick outside. You can hear the fish-boats squawking all around us. Say, wouldn’t it be great if we ran down one?”