Before leaving, Dick announced that he was eager to start West to
connect with Barnum's circus, complaining of the unprofitable idleness
that had been forced upon him. He expressed the confident hope that
Braddock might be persuaded to leave with him.
"I can't afford to be loafin' around New York this season of the
year," he reflected in the most _degage_ manner imaginable. "It's
expensive, the way Ernie and me are living nowadays. I got to get out
and round up the rubes. Now, kid, don't preach. Oh, by the way, has
Joey told you the good luck that's happened to Ruby? Going to marry
Ben Thompson, a newspaper man. I'm mighty glad she's gettin' a chap
like him, and not one of them rotten guys that hang around the op'ry
houses. She's--she's a fine girl, Davy--a plum' daisy."
Jenison once more impulsively offered to provide a refuge and
employment for life on his plantation for the delectable scalawag, but
Dick laughed at him in fine scorn. He departed a few minutes later,
sauntering down the hall with a complacency that fairly scoffed at
house detectives and their ilk.
David went to the Portman home in a state of suppressed eagerness and
anxiety, one emotion topping the other by turns as he was being driven
toward Washington Square.
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