Page:Ned Wilding's Disappearance.djvu/180

170 warm room and went out into the cold. He was glad he was well clothed and that he still had his overcoat. How long he could keep it, before he would have to pawn it for food, he did not know. He almost decided to go back to the hotel where he had first stayed and see if they knew anything about his valise. That had ten dollars in it. Then the thought of the detective deterred him.

"If I had the four dollars the lodging house proprietor stole from me I'd think I was rich," he murmured. "But I wouldn't dare go back after it. He'd have me arrested sure! Though I may have to submit to that to get a warm place to sleep and something to eat, if I don't get work soon," he added.

It was very cold. As soon as Ned got out into the street, where he could feel the full sweep of the wind he shivered though his overcoat was a thick one. The snow was blown into his face with stinging force.

"As long as it doesn't make any difference which way I go I may as well have the wind at my back," he reasoned as he turned and walked in the opposite direction. "That's more comfortable, at any rate," he continued. "Now I must get something to eat, if it's only a cup of coffee."

He walked on until he saw a restaurant. In