| Show Copyright 1994 maL Ina ma L E G E fR D E A 1 J Continued from yesterday esterday What hat do you ou mean mean he asked I 1 mean what 1 I told yoU vou awhile ago Im I'm a gentleman I said Id not not a bootlegger or a crook Ills His thin lips curled in a sneer I 1 suppose suppo e its it's better to be a genUe- genUe Understand those He pointed to the billman bills bill man and starve stal than a wise Ise gu guy and aid get Jet rick I think so I told him I Theres StIll other ways of ot mak milk ng ng money montY he lie said For Instance II ou nu could run to the police give them the my address and tell lell them what Ive I've told you ou You know that I wont won't I re reI re- re I plied Will VIlI this cover the cost of ot what I ate I admit that It was ungracious even en to a II confessed criminal But after all ho he had insulted me I placed two dollars upon the table table table- how pitiful the amount was vas when laid beside his huge hulte wad of bills bills bills- picked up my hat from the chair on which It had been dropped at my entrance nodded to him and started start start- ed for the door Wait Valt a minute he said Mid When en enyou you think this over you'll change your our mind You'll want to find me I wont won't be here This This' place Is III rent rent- td fd for tor the night Just go to Weinberg Weinberg Wein- Wein berg and tell him you yop 1 0 want me That's the kind of a II man I am am po no hard feelings None one here either I told him But I hardly think well we'll meet again Your belly's filled now Walt Wait till un youre you're hungry again I IT Twill will wm said r. r And with that I walked from the apartment to find myself a moment later in Washington Washing WashIng- ton square I lo at the great clock on the Judson Tudson tower I could still keep my word to Mrs Irs Gannon I did Then with two dollars left of ot the five that I had received from V Weinberg I 1 climbed more easily this time than last to my roomI room I sat down upon the bed and re reviewed ye- ye viewed the last hour And as I l thought of ot how a cheap criminal had carried me to his lodgings fed ted me patronized and Insulted me I Iwas Iwas Iwas was sick with shame A man of ot my education and breeding who had sunk so low In the social scale that he was acas open to such an insult who was as unable to cope with the elementary elementary ele cIa facts of ot life as I was was unfit to live It was a harsh Judgment which I rendered against myself but a Just one Incompetents clutter up the path of ot progress Society in making civilized life difficult for the Incompetent incompetent incompetent is enacting natural decrees for nature before society began de destroyed destroyed destroyed de- de the incompetent A sudden determination came ame to me I had parted with the last possession that had a marketable value Of course I had my overcoat but freezing was not preferable to starvation But why starve or freeze when I there was an easy alternative That Is the alternative would be bee I e easy 1 If I were In full possession of ni my faculties But It if I b became hungry to th the point of starvation star again ni my faculties facilities would be im impaired impaired im- im paired my y will wili he gone I could I see flee myself begging of passersby i even possibly rummaging in refuse palls pails for a bone or a crust ernst like an any I famished dog The alt alternative of and sim aim sImple simple pie self destruction was jas infinitely preferable to s ch such degradation d I would eat again already again already my stomach stomach atom ach cried for more food so long had hadI I 1 gone hungry then hungry then walk to the waterfront and rid society of one of ot its unfit I 1 rose roe from the bed and opened m my suitcase I Ivas was vas sure that there was nothing In it that would identify identify iden iden- Mrs Gannons Gannon's missing lodger Iden-I Iden I as John AInsley but I wished tobe tobe to tobe be positive Pride that even after atter I was wa dead persons who once had known Imo me should know the humiliation of ot my tny end I closed the case and sat nat down once more upon the bed to gather all my strength As I sat there I thought of ot the man nian who had fed me The display of money which he had made was assurance that he was an extremely successful criminal probably probably probably ably one of Those created by the police pollee to to cover rover up their own Incompetence I laughed at the Idea This man was nothing but the most moat mediocre sort of ot person Beyond a vicious cunning he possessed no mentality at all The reason for his success I I lay in the fact that the men opposed opposed op opposed op- op posed to him the police were also mediocrities Imagine a man of real 1 I Intellect devoting himself to the stupid career of ot crime detection I I Graduated policemen were the de detectives detectives detectives de- de who protected society against the schemes of such as my I fur collared friend And while a policeman may be morally and I physically an exceptional person mentally he must be on the level of ot ofa otal a al laborer ore I The existed only inthe Inthe in inthe the newspapers In reality he was such stich a person as my mf fur collared friend And the limitations of that person had been made clearly evident evident evident evi evi- dent to me tonight lie He knew v his limitations himself and had asked my aid to overcome them Why if I chose I could be a super criminal a real one not a myth invented to toI please the writers of newspaper I t headlines aria and their readers It would serve society right If I I turned against it I was a gentleman gentleman gentleman gentle gentle- man a a. man qualified to act as ar arbiter arbiter arbiter ar- ar biter in matt matters rs of ot ste and culture culture cul cul- cul- cul ture lure a man admirably familiar with the arts Yet the passed meby me meby by and preferred to bestow it us its honors and rewards upon a glorified grocer or a vendor of pig iro I It had taken ten generations of aristocratic forbears to produce me While I did not profess to own the creative instinct nevertheless by sheer virtue of ot my family traditions I was qualified to judge the works I i I I I I 1 I I I I I I rf nf creative I artists and say lAY This I ts IS good that thu Is bad as ItS I were produced upon this earth to guide and instruct the common people We e were not meant to battle In tawdry ways way for tor the gross material things of life The Tha supreme achievement of evolution Is the gentleman and society p permits permits per per- r- r I I can mits a gentleman gentle n mt to starve I conceive no harsher indictment against t society I I Then I smiled at my own heat I 1 I had had my opportunity to become u a criminal earlier this evening and anti had refused It I had no Intention I of changing hanging m my mind and accepting the offer of ot my fur collared friend I ISo So then let me die a all as a gentleman gentleman gentle gentle- man should without repInIng or oranger oranger oranger other anger or sneers or ties tits And I let t me die as unto unfortunately I had hod not recently lived upon a full stomach There were vere places In New York where one might still dine frugally it is true but amid clean dean surroundIngs surroundings sur sur- In an atmosphere of breeding for the small sum Rum that I still remained to me Such a place was Careys Carey's an Italian table restaurant south of Washington square Dinner could be procured I there for a II dollar and a t halt half with twenty-five twenty cents for there would still be a quarter for forthe forthe forthe the waiter walter I 1 regretted that the check heck boy In the coatroom would be forced to set Jet along without a gratuity from me With my stomach stomach scorn scorn- ach filled puffing at a II I would stroll leisurely to the west coming at length upon a dock on the North river After that that who who knows There was no need to say anything anything anything any any- thing to Mrs Irs Gannon Tomorrow or the next day finding my room I unoccupied she would rent It to someone else I flad paid her for a week in advance and she would consider my departure something In Inthe Inthe inthe the nature of an unexpected profit There was not Ute tile slightest lightest danger that she sho would rep i t my absence to the police She would confiscate my poor suitcase and Its meager contents content and gain still an anther ther petty profit So I walked downstairs much stronger than when I had done so soI soon soon on my way to visit Weinberg but butI still weak and hungry again In Inthe Inthe Inthe the hall ball little Peter m met t me When you goin to make a penny disappear for me mei Mr Ainsley he demanded I I smiled at him rm Im going to tomake tomake make something bigger than a penny penny pen pen- n ny disappear P Peter I I told him I When aie he asked Pretty son eon I replied I Will you let me see you Z he ha heI as asked ed I You ll know about It I assured him I Continued nuM tomorrow tom |
