Not that he was anxious to conceal these slight indications of
advancing years, nor did he have a spark of cheap personal vanity
about him, but because it was his nature always to put his best
foot foremost and keep it there; because, too, it behooved him in
manner, dress and morals, to maintain the standards he had set for
himself, he being a Grayson, with the best blood of the State in
his veins, and with every table worth dining at open to him from
Fourteenth Street to Murray Hill, and beyond.
"Now, it's all behind me, my dear boy," he cried, as we reached
the sidewalk and turned our faces up Wall Street toward Broadway.
"Fifteen hours to live my own life! No care until ten o'clock to-
morrow. Lovely life, my dear Major, when you think of it. Ah, old
Micawber was right--income one pound, expense one pound ten
shillings; result, misery: income one pound ten, expense one
pound, outcome, happiness! What a curse this Street is to those
who abuse its power for good; half of them trying to keep out of
jail and the other half fighting to keep out of the poor-house!
And most of them get so little out of it.
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