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Lost on Dress Parade
Mr.
Towers Chandler was pressing his evening suit in
his hall bedroom. One iron was heating
on a small gas stove;
the other was
being pushed vigorously back and forth to make
the desirable crease that would be seen
later on extending in
straight
lines
from
Mr.
Chandler's
patent
leather
shoes
to
the
edge of his low-cut
vest. So much of the hero's toilet may be
intrusted to our confidence. The
remainder may be guessed by
those
whom
genteel
poverty
has
driven
to
ignoble
expedient.
Our
next view of him shall be as he
descends the steps of his
lodging-house
immaculately and correctly clothed; calm,
assured, handsome--in appearance the
typical New York young
clubman setting
out, slightly bored, to inaugurate the
pleasures
of
the
er's
honorarium
was
$$18
per
week.
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He
was
employed
in
the
office
of
an
architect.
He
was
twenty-two
years old; he considered architecture
to be truly an art; and
he honestly
believed--though he would not have dared to admit
it in New York--that the Flatiron
Building was inferior to
design to the
great cathedral in of each week's
earnings Chandler set aside $$1. At the
end of each ten weeks
with the extra
capital thus accumulated, he purchased one
gentleman's evening from the bargain
counter of stingy old
Father
Time.
He
arrayed
himself
in
the
regalia
of
millionaires
and presidents;
he took himself to the quarter where life is
brightest
and
showiest,
and
there
dined
with
taste
and
luxury.
With ten dollars a man may, for a few
hours, play the wealthy
idler
to
perfection.
The
sum
is
ample
for
a
well-considered
meal,
a bottle bearing a respectable label,
commensurate tips, a
smoke,
cab
fare
and
the
ordinary
one
delectable
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evening
culled
from
each
dull
seventy
was
to
Chandler
a
source
of
renascent
bliss.
To the
society
bud
comes
but
one
debut;
it
stands alone sweet in her
memory when her hair has whitened;
but
to Chandler each ten weeks brought a joy as keen,
as
thrilling,
as
new
as
the
first
had
been.
To
sit
among
bon
vivants
under
palms in the swirl of concealed music, to look
upon the
habitues
of
such
a
paradise
and
to
be
looked
upon
by
them--what
is a girl's first
dance and short-sleeved tulle compared with
this?Up Broadway Chandler moved with
the vespertine dress
parade. For this
evening he was an exhibit as well as a gazer.
For
the
next
sixty-nine
evenings
he
would
be
dining
in
cheviot
and worsted at dubious table d'hotes,
at whirlwind lunch
counters, on
sandwiches and beer in his hall-bedroom. He was
willing to do that, for he was a true
son of the great city of
razzle-dazzle,
and
to
him
one
evening
in
the
limelight
made
up
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for many dark er protracted his walk
until the
Forties began to intersect
the great and glittering primrose
way,
for
the
evening
was
yet
young,
and
when
one
is
of
the
beau
monde only one day in
seventy, one loves to protract the
pleasure. Eyes bright, sinister,
curious, admiring,
provocative,
alluring
were
bent
upon
him,
for
his
garb
and
air
proclaimed
him
a
devotee
to
the
hour
of
solace
and
a
certain
corner
he
came
to
a
standstill,
proposing
to
himself
the
question of turning back toward the showy and
fashionable
restaurant in which he
usually dined on the evenings of his
especial luxury. Just then a girl
scuddled lightly around the
corner,
slipped on a patch of icy snow and fell plump upon
the
er assisted her to her feet with
instant and
solicitous courtesy. The
girl hobbled to the wall of the
building,
leaned
against
it,
and
thanked
him
demurely.
think
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my
ankle
is
strained,
she
said.
twisted
when
I
fell.
it
pain
you
much?
inquired
Chandler.
when
I
rest
my
weight
upon
it.
I
think
I
will
be
able
to
walk
in
a
minute
or
two.
I can be of any further
service,
will call a cab,
or--
heartily.
am
sure
you
need
not
trouble
yourself
any
further.
It was so awkward
of me. And my shoe heels are horridly
common-sense;
I
can't
blame
them
at
all.
looked
at
the
girl
and
found
her
swiftly
drawing
his
interest.
She
was
pretty
in a
refined way; and her eye was both merry and kind.
She was
inexpensively clothed in a
plain black dress that suggested a
sort
of
uniform
such
as
shop
girls
wear.
Her
glossy
dark-brown
hair
showed
its
coils
beneath
a cheap
hat
of
black straw
whose
only
ornament
was
a
velvet
ribbon
and
bow.
She
could
have
posed
as a
model for the self-respecting working girl of the
best
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type.A sudden idea came into the head
of the young architect.
He would ask
this girl to dine with him. Here was the element
that
his
splendid
but
solitary
periodic
feasts
had
lacked.
His
brief
season
of
elegant
luxury
would
be
doubly
enjoyable
if
he
could add to it a lady's society. This
girl was a lady, he was
sure--her
manner and speech settled that. And in spite of
her
extremely plain
attire
he felt
that
he
would
be
pleased
to sit
at table with
thoughts passed swiftly through his
mind, and he decided to ask her. It was
a breach of etiquette,
of course, but
oftentimes wage- earning girls waived
formalities
in
matters
of
this
kind.
They
were
generally
shrewd
judges of men; and thought better of
their own judgment than
they did of
useless conventions. His ten dollars, discreetly
expended, would enable the two to dine
very well indeed. The
dinner
would
no
doubt
be
a
wonderful
experience
thrown
into
the
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dull routine of the girl's life; and
her lively appreciation
of it would add
to his own triumph and pleasure.
said
to
her,
with
frank
gravity,
your
foot
needs
a
longer
rest
than
you
suppose.
Now,
I
am
going
to
suggest
a
way
in
which
you
can
give
it that
and
at
the
same
time do me
a
favour.
I was
on my way to
dine all by my lonely self when you came tumbling
around
the
corner.
You
come
with
me
and
we'll
have
a
cozy
dinner
and a
pleasant
talk
together,
and
by
that
time your
game
ankle
will carry you home
very nicely, I am sure.
quickly up into
Chandler's clear, pleasant countenance. Her
eyes twinkled once very brightly, and
then she smiled
ingenuously.
we
don't
know
each
other--it
wouldn't
be
right,
would
it?
it,
myself--permit me--Mr.
Towers Chandler. After our dinner,
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