It has already been said that Micky felt a natural enmity towards
those in his own condition in life who wore better clothes than
himself. For the last nine months, Dick's neat appearance had
excited the ire of the young Philistine. To appear in neat attire
and with a clean face Micky felt was a piece of presumption, and an
assumption of superiority on the part of our hero, and he termed it
"tryin' to be a swell."
Now his astonished eyes rested on Dick in his ancient attire, which
was very similar to his own. It was a moment of triumph to him. He
felt that "pride had had a fall," and he could not forbear reminding
Dick of it.
"Them's nice clo'es you've got on," said he, sarcastically, as Dick
came up.
"Yes," said Dick, promptly. "I've been employin' your tailor. If my
face was only dirty we'd be taken for twin brothers."
"So you've give up tryin' to be a swell?"
"Only for this partic'lar occasion," said Dick. "I wanted to make a
fashionable call, so I put on my regimentals."
"I don't b'lieve you've got any better clo'es," said Micky.
"All right," said Dick, "I won't charge you nothin' for what you
believe."
Here a customer presented himself for Micky, and Dick went back to
his room to change his clothes, before resuming business.
CHAPTER XXV
DICK WRITES HIS FIRST LETTER
When Fosdick reached home in the evening, Dick displayed his letter
with some pride.
Pages:
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180