" Then in desperation, "But tell me more about this
printer of whom I remind you; what was his name?"
"Oh, I don't know that," replied Amy, "but he was very kind to me and
sat up at night to design a cover for a little booklet I was having
printed. I never saw him to thank him though, for he was out when I
called the next day. I heard that Mr. Udell had a tramp working for
him and I suppose it was he, for he acted very strangely--he may have
been drinking. It is too bad for he must have been a splendid workman.
There ought to be one of those books here," and she began turning over
the things on the table. "Yes, here it is." And she handed Dick the
pamphlet that had caused him so much trouble that night in the office.
It is hard to say where the matter would have ended had not Miss
Jameson, another member of the social committee, appeared just then,
and ordered them to the parlor, where Amy was wanted to play.
After the company had listened to several instrumental pieces and one
or two solos by different girls, one of the young men asked, "Don't
you sing, Mr. Falkner?"
"Of course he does," and all began calling for a song.
A sudden thought struck Dick, and stepping quickly to the piano, he
played his own accompaniment and sang, in a rich baritone voice, a
street song:
"They tell me go work for a living,
And not round the country to stamp;
And then when I ask for employment,
They say there's no work for a tramp."
The song was by no means a classic one, but the manner in which Dick
rendered it made it seem so, and as he sang:
"There's many a true heart beating,
Beneath the old coat of a tramp.
Pages:
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89