“I go away to-morrow. You must spend the evening with me.”
“I should like to do so. It seems good to see an old friend.”
“By and by we will go to Delmonico’s and have an ice cream. I suppose you have been there?”
“No; office boys don’t often patronize Delmonico. They are more likely to go to Beefsteak John’s.”
“I never heard that name. Is it a fashionable place?”
“Yes, with those of small pocketbooks. It is a perfectly respectable place, but people living on Fifth Avenue prefer the Brunswick or Delmonico’s.”
Edward brightened up so much owing to the presence of a friend from his distant home that Chester could hardly believe that it was the same boy whom he had found but a short time before in the depths of despondency.
About nine o’clock they adjourned to Delmonico’s and ordered ices and cake.
“This seems a tiptop place,” said the Oregonian, looking about him. “We haven’t got anything equal to it in Portland, but we may have sometime. The Western people are progressive. We don’t want to be at the tail end of the procession. Mr. Rand, you ought to come out and see something of the West, particularly of the Pacific coast. You may not feel an interest in it at present, but——”
“I have more interest in it than you imagine, Mr. Wilson. I have some property at Tacoma.”