"Is there anything he does not know?"
"Yes,--many things. Oh! a great many things. He doesn't know how
to be rude, or ill bred, or purse-proud. He doesn't know how to
snub people who are poorer than he is, or to push himself in where
he isn't wanted; or to talk behind people's backs after he has
accepted their hospitality. Just plain gentleman journeyman
tailor, Jack. And now, my boy, be honest. Isn't he a relief after
some of the people you and I meet every day?"
Jack settled again in his chair. His mind was not at all easy.
"Yes, he is, and that makes me afraid I was rude. I didn't mean to
be."
"No,--you acted just right. I wanted to draw him out so you could
hear, and you must say that he was charming. And the best of it is
that he could have talked equally well on a dozen other subjects."
For some time Jack did not answer. Despite Peter's good opinion of
him, he still felt that he had either said or done something he
should be ashamed of. He knew it was his snap judgment about Cohen
that had been the cause of the object lesson he had just received.
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