, spend the evening at the Empire, and sup
at the Savoy. What do you say?"
He stood hesitating on the steps, a wistful look in his eyes.
His brougham drew up against the curb, and he started as if from a
dream.
"My dear fellow," he replied, "what would people say?" And shaking
me by the hand, he took his seat, and the footman slammed the door
upon him.
A MAN OF HABIT
There were three of us in the smoke-room of the Alexandra--a very
good friend of mine, myself, and, in the opposite corner, a shy-
looking, unobtrusive man, the editor, as we subsequently learned,
of a New York Sunday paper.
My friend and I were discussing habits, good and bad.
"After the first few months," said my friend, "it is no more effort
for a man to be a saint than to be a sinner; it becomes a mere
matter of habit."
"I know," I interrupted, "it is every whit as easy to spring out of
bed the instant you are called as to say 'All Right,' and turn over
for just another five minutes' snooze, when you have got into the
way of it. It is no more trouble not to swear than to swear, if
you make a custom of it. Toast and water is as delicious as
champagne, when you have acquired the taste for it.
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