They think I'm crazy.
Say--let me tell you--all I've had to eat to-day was a couple
pretzels and an apple. To-morrow I'll stand in line to inherit three
millions; and that restaurant you see over there with the autos
around it will be too cheap for me to eat in. Don't believe it, do
you?
"Without the slightest trouble," said Vallance, with a laugh. "I
lunched there yesterday. To-night I couldn't buy a five-cent cup of
coffee."
"You don't look like one of us. Well, I guess those things happen. I
used to be a high-flyer myself--some years ago. What knocked you out
of the game?"
"I--oh, I lost my job," said Vallance.
"It's undiluted Hades, this city," went on the other. "One day you're
eating from china; the next you are eating in China--a chop-suey
joint. I've had more than my share of hard luck. For five years
I've been little better than a panhandler. I was raised up to live
expensively and do nothing. Say--I don't mind telling you--I've
got to talk to somebody, you see, because I'm afraid--I'm afraid.
My name's Ide. You wouldn't think that old Paulding, one of the
millionaires on Riverside Drive, was my uncle, would you? Well, he
is. I lived in his house once, and had all the money I wanted. Say,
haven't you got the price of a couple of drinks about you--er--what's
your name--"
"Dawson," said Vallance. "No; I'm sorry to say that I'm all in,
financially."
"I've been living for a week in a coal cellar on Division Street,"
went on Ide, "with a crook they called 'Blinky' Morris.
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