Page:Lynch Williams--The stolen story and other newspaper stories.djvu/258

 prise. After awhile there were no more new ones.

He was as guileless looking as ever, but he sometimes had considerable fun with them when they undertook to patronize him, especially the young, dapper ones, who softly slide into positions made or left for them in the down-town world by wealth or influence, and thus miss a valuable life-lesson or two.

He usually let them think they were impressing him, when he conveniently could, looking innocent and awed, because they enjoyed it so much, and he did not mind now, any more than he resented the pity of kind women who thought he had sad eyes and insisted on giving him cake and lemonade at their conventions, and then considered him very ill-bred next morning up on seeing themselves gently ridiculed in the "article," which was written as Billy Woods's employer told him to write it.

It was one of this younger down-town type that Billy had first to deal with now, teeming with importance, as Woods could tell from the way he said "Well, sir."