"Can you sew?"
"I never took in any fine work to do, but if you've got any handkerchiefs to hem, I'll do it on reasonable terms."
"How witty you are, Mr. Rushton!"
"I am glad you think so, Mrs. Clifton. I never found anybody else who could appreciate me."
Several days had passed since the accidental encounter with Martin outside of the Academy of Music. Rufus began to hope that he had gone out of the city, though he hardly expected it. Such men as Martin prefer to live from hand to mouth in a great city, rather than go to the country, where they would have less difficulty in earning an honest living. At any rate he had successfully baffled Martin's attempts to learn where Rose and he were boarding. But he knew his step-father too well to believe that he had got rid of him permanently. He had no doubt he would turn up sooner or later, and probably give him additional trouble.
He turned up sooner than Rufus expected.
The next morning, when on the way from the bank with a tin box containing money and securities, he suddenly came upon Martin standing in front of the general post office, with a cigar in his mouth. The respectable appearance which Martin presented in his new clothes filled Rufus with wonder, and he could not avoid staring at his step-father with surprise.
"Hillo!" said Martin, his eye lighting up with malicious pleasure. "So you didn't know me, eh?"
"No," said Rufus.
"I'm in business now."