"No, I never returned there since I was a child."
"Your operations in America were confined to San Francisco, Chicago and St. Louis——"
"Yes."
Kenneth breathed more freely.
"That makes matters easier. No one in New York, therefore, has anything against you. There it will be possible to live down your past. You will cease being an outcast, a wanderer on the face of the earth. You will take the place in society for which Nature intended you."
Handsome smiled cynically. Grimly he replied:
"I guess Nature never expected much of me."
"You never can tell," said Kenneth quickly. "Your environments no doubt were responsible for your downfall. You have been a victim of circumstances."
Handsome was silent. This free roving life had come second nature to him. He looked with suspicion on any other. After a pause, he asked:
"What can I do in New York?"