He was deeply touched, it was true, by the doctor’s generosity, but as he hugged the largess close to his heart, beneath his thin coat, he muttered incredulously:
“Good thing he didn’t know ’twas me, or maybe I’d ha’ got a kick into the gutter instid o’ a helpin’ hand, by gum! But he might ’a’ come to know me any minit if I hadn’t come away so quick. He was gettin’ mighty darn suspicious, and—hello!”
The last ejaculation came from an unexpected sight. As he shambled along Broadway, where the people were coming out from the opera, he saw two faces that made him cry out in that startled way.
They were Miss Tabitha Ruttencutter and Patty, getting into their carriage to return to their hotel.
The door slammed to, and they were driven away before the exile got his breath to ejaculate:
“Patty and the ole gal, sure’s I live and breathe! Well, if this here night ain’t a stunnin’ one! Doc Ludington one minit and them the next! S’pose hit will be little Eva next? Has the hull o’ West Virginny moved inter New York?”
CHAPTER XXXII.
PATTY’S AMBITION.
Patty and her redoubtable “chappyrone” were still holding their own in New York, in spite of the snubbing they had gotten from Eva.
Boarding at one of the finest hotels and lavishing money like water, they spared no effort to get into the society where Eva moved, a social queen by reason of her beauty and charm, coupled with her father’s wealth and position.