She began a doubtful laugh, and then, seeing that it wasn't a joke, repeated:
"I like your nerve!" And it was now evident that she didn't like it.
"See here," he said, speaking rapidly, "my clothes look all right yet, but I'm broke. I'm hungry. I haven't had anything to eat since day before yesterday. I'm not kidding you; it's true. You looked like a good fellow to me, and I took a chance. Hunger" (as he spoke it he seemed to remember having heard the remark before), "hunger makes one a judge of faces; I gambled on yours."
She wasn't complimented; she regarded him with a manner in which scorn and incredulity were blended; Merriwether Buck perceived that, for some reason or other, she was insulted.
"Don't," she said, "don't pull any of that sentimental stuff on me. I thought you was a gentleman!"
And she turned away from him. He took a step in pursuit and started to renew his plea; for he was determined to play his game square and give the directing deities of the city a fair chance to soften whatsoever random heart they would.
"Beat it!" she shrilled, "beat it, you cheap grafter, or I'll call a cop!"
And Merriwether beat it; nor' by nor'west he beat it, as the street beats it; as the tides beat. The clock on the Times building marked 1.20 as he paused by the subway station there. In forty minutes--just the time it takes to hook your wife's dress or put a girdle round the world--Merri-wether Buck would be beating it toward eternity, shooing before him a flock of astonished ghosts of his own making. Twenty minutes had gone by and whatever gods they be that rule New York had made no sign; perhaps said gods were out at lunch or gone to Coney Island. Twice twenty minutes more, and----
But no. It is all over now. It must be. There emerges from the subway station one who is unmistakably a preacher. The creases of his face attest a smiling habit; no doubt long years of doing good have given it that stamp; the puffs of white hair above the temples add distinction to benignity.
"I beg your pardon," said Merriwether Buck, "but are you a minister?"
"Eh?" said the reverend gentleman, adjusting a pair of gold-rimmed eyeglasses. "Yes," he said pleasantly, "I am," and he removed the glasses and put them back on once again, as he spoke. Somehow, the way he did it was a benediction.