OUT IN THE COLD 



The young man smiled pleasantly, and the old 

 man said sharply, &quot; You d better stick to your 

 work if you know when you re well off.&quot; 



But without paying the slightest attention to 

 him, his workman laid down the tool that he had 

 in his hand and said : 



&quot; I ll try and see if I can get you back,&quot; and 

 took off his apron. 



&quot;You will not lose anything by it,&quot; I re 

 marked. u It will be a great act of kindness.&quot; 



&quot; He won t, hey ? &quot; snarled the old man. 

 &quot; Mabbee he ll lose his job if he neglects his 

 work for everybody that comes along.&quot; 



The young man gave no heed to him, and 

 accompanying me to the street, said, as he looked 

 at me inquiringly, &quot;You re the gentleman who 

 is living in the Hotchkiss woods;&quot; and he said it 

 as if that fact had some kind of claim upon his 

 good nature. 



O 



&quot; I don t want you to lose your job to accom 

 modate me,&quot; I remarked. 



&quot; Never fear,&quot; he replied. &quot; The old man 

 can t get along without me. If you will go over 

 to the tavern and wait for me, I ll tidy myself up 

 a bit and try and get you back.&quot; 



I thanked him and rejoined the Doctor. It 

 must have been an hour before my amiable friend 

 appeared with a spanking team and properly 

 tidied up. He came out a handsome young 

 athlete in a tweed suit and a derby hat. 



I said to the Doctor as we saw him drive up, 

 &quot; He expects to bleed us handsomely for this, 



223 



