The Debtor: A Novel

by Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman

Just at that moment they reached a restaurant from which came an odor of soup. Carroll turned to his companion. “I am going in here to get some lunch,” he said. “I don't know what kind of a place it is, but if you will go with me, I shall take pleasure in—”

But the man turned upon him fiercely. “I 'ain't got quite so low yet that I have to eat at another man's expense,” he said. “You needn't think, because you wear a better coat than I do, that—” The man stopped and nodded his head, speechless, and went on, and was out of sight, but Carroll had seen tears in the angry eyes.

He went into the restaurant, took a seat at a table, and ordered a bowl of tomato-soup. As he was sipping it he heard a voice pronounce his name, and, glancing up, saw two pretty girls and a young man at a near-by table. He recognized the young man as the one who had been lately in his employ. About the girls he was not so sure, but he thought they were the same who had come to Banbridge to plead for their payment. They all bowed to him, and he returned the salutation. They all had a severe and, at the same time, curious expression. One of the girls whispered to the other, and although the words were not audible, the sharp hiss reached Carroll's ears.

“Wonder what he's doing in this place,” she said.

The other girl, the elder, craned her neck and observed what Carroll was eating. “He hasn't got anything but a bowl of tomato-soup,” she replied.

“S'pose he's goin' through the whole bill,” said the young man. The three were themselves lunching frugally. One of the girls had also a bowl of tomato-soup, the other a large piece of squash-pie. The young man had a ham sandwich and a cup of coffee. Smoking was allowed in the place, and the atmosphere was thick with cigarette smoke, and a warm, greasy scent of boiling and frying. Carroll continued to eat his soup. The three at the other table had nearly finished their luncheons when he entered. Presently they rose and passed him. The young man stopped. He paled a little. His old awe of Carroll was over him. In spite of himself, the worshipful admiration he had had for the man still influenced him. The poor young fellow, whose very pertness and braggadocio were simple and childlike, really felt towards the older man who had been his employer much as a faithful retainer towards a feudal baron. His feeling towards him was something between love and an enormous mental worship. His little, ordinary soul seemed to flatten itself like an Oriental before his emperor when he spoke to Carroll sipping his bowl of tomato-soup in the cheap restaurant. He had, after all, that nobility of soul which altered circumstances could not affect. He was just as deferential as if Carroll had been seated at a table in Delmonico's, but the fact remained that he was about to ask him again for his money. He was horribly pressed. He had obtained another position in one of the department stores, which paid him very little, and he was in debt, while his clothes were in such a degree of shabbiness that they were fairly precarious. The very night before he had sat up until midnight mending a rent in his trousers, which he afterwards inked; and as for his overcoat, he always removed that with a sleight-of-hand lest its ragged lining become evident, and when ladies were about he put it on in an agony lest his arms catch in the rents. He had even meditated cutting out the lining altogether, although he had a cold. He was so in debt that he had stopped eating breakfast; and the leaving off of breakfast for other than hygienic reasons, and when it has not been preceded by a heavy dinner the night before, is not conducive to comfort. So he bent low over Carroll and asked him in a small voice of the most delicate consideration, if he could let him have a little on account.

Carroll had turned quite white when he approached him, but his regard of him was unswerving. “It is impossible for me to-day, Mr. Day,” he replied, “but I assure you that you shall have every cent in the end.”

The tears actually sprang into the young fellow's nervously winking eyes. “It would be a great accommodation,” he said, in the same low tone.

“You shall have every cent as soon as I can possibly manage it,” Carroll repeated.

“I have a position, but it does not pay me very much yet,” said the young fellow, “and—and—I am owing considerable, and—I need some things.”