This did not strike his new acquaintance as desirable, since it would be, in effect, charging him with blackmail. Moreover, he could bring nothing tangible against our young hero. He changed his tone therefore.
“I don’t want to harm you,” he said, “but I deserve something for getting you out of a scrape. You might spare me five dollars.”
“I got my suit two dollars cheaper through what you said,” said Robert. “I’ll give you that sum.”
“Well, that will do,” said the other, finding the country boy more unmanageable than he expected. “I ought to have more, but I will call it square on that.”
Robert drew a two-dollar bill from his pocket and handed it to the stranger.
“That I can give,” he said, “because it was part of the price of my suit.”
“All right. Good morning!” said the young man, and, thrusting the bill into his vest pocket, he walked carelessly away.
Robert looked after him with a puzzled glance.
“I shouldn’t think a young man dressed like that could be in want of money,” he reflected. “I am afraid he told a lie on my account, but I thought at the time he had really seen me, even if I couldn’t remember him.”
Soon Robert came to a hat store, where he exchanged his battered old hat for one of fashionable shape, and a little later his cowhide shoes for a pair of neat calfskin. He surveyed himself now with natural satisfaction, for he was as well dressed as his friend Herbert Irving.