“No, I didn’t see any confidence men,” answered Hans. “What got me was that I went all the way to New York to attend a wedding and to see some of the sights of the town over Sunday and here I am back at Lowell again within twenty-four hours, without seeing either the wedding or any of the sights and just about $25 to the bad.”
“How could that happen?” asked Hal, showing much interest.
“Well, it was this way,” said Hans. “I got to the Grand Central Station all right about one o’clock. The sun was shining and I was feeling pretty good. There were lots of people coming and going, and the streets outside were so crowded I thought sure there was going to be a parade. About half past one it started to rain and it rained harder than it ever rains in Texas. Of course I didn’t have any rubbers or umbrella along, and when my sister got there she didn’t have any either. It wasn’t raining and didn’t look like rain when she left the house where she was visiting.
“She was all dressed up in her finest dress, with big hat, and looked very pretty, but I couldn’t take her on a street car in that kind of weather, and so I said, ‘I guess we’ll have to take a cab.’ She said under the circumstances she would go in a cab, but that she would pay for it, because she knew I couldn’t have very much money, I guess, and she gave me her pocketbook with some money in it. I told her she had better come with me and we would find the best way to get there. She said we had better take the Twenty-third Street Ferry to Broadway, Brooklyn, and thought it would be cheaper to take one cab to the ferry, then ride across on the boat, and get another cab on the other side. So [I asked a cabby to take us to the Twenty-third Street Ferry] and after we had been riding for about ten minutes we got there, and when I asked him how much I owed him he said ‘Three Aces,’ and I said ‘What?’ and he said ‘Three Dollars.’ So I paid the three dollars out of sister’s money (she had fifteen dollars), though I felt like fighting, and we rode across the East River on the ferryboat.
[“I asked a cabby to take us to the 23rd St. Ferry.”]
“When we got over on the Brooklyn side it was raining harder than ever, and I went out to look for a cab. There was none in sight, so I telephoned to six livery stables, but there wasn’t any to be had. And there we were, stuck in Brooklyn in the ferryhouse and the rain coming down like anything, and no cabs.
“I said ‘we better walk,’ but sis said ‘no, she had an idea’; and she started for the entrance to the ferryhouse, where I saw a string of carriages approaching. When I caught up to her I saw it was a lot of carriages bringing people back from a funeral, and sister was busy talking to the driver of one of them. Finally we explained things to the people inside, and they consented to let us have their carriage, and they thought they could get a carriage on the New York side, although it was queer to change a funeral carriage into one to go to a wedding. When we got in I told the driver where we wanted to go, and he sort of smiled, but, of course, I didn’t know what about. I soon found out though, as after he had gone about four blocks and turned one corner the carriage stopped, and the driver got down and opened the door, saying we were there. I hadn’t asked him how much it would be, but told him to wait for us, as it was time for the wedding and we only expected to be there for a little while.
“The building was one of those apartment houses, my sister told me—a brand new building with elevators and boys with brass buttons, and all that. This was my first sight of an apartment house—this was the kind which had little apartments—four rooms and bath, and the young couple who were getting married had furnished it up very nicely, and were going to start housekeeping right after the wedding. Because they had only a little room, they had rented or obtained the use of the apartment next door, for people to leave their wraps. The boy showed us in there.
“A maid showed sister into one room and me into another, and said, ‘There is a brush and comb and clothesbrush in the bath-room if you need one.’ I needed it because I was pretty wet, and my hair was rumpled. I went into the bath-room, and, of course, turned the bolt in the door. I brushed my clothes and combed my hair, and then started to get out. When I tried to turn the bolt it wouldn’t budge. You see this apartment had never been occupied and this bolt in the door had never been tried, so when I had turned it to lock it, it had worked all right, but when I tried to unlock it, it had stuck tight in the door and I couldn’t budge it. [I tried and tried until my fingers were worn sore] and still I was in there.