Fame and Fortune Part 15

CHAPTER VIII.

NEW PLANS.

At the close of the afternoon, as had been proposed, Mr. Murdock, accompanied by d.i.c.k, rode up as far as Forty-Fifth Street, to look at the lots which he had suggested buying. They were located in a very eligible situation, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. Some of my young readers may not be aware that the dimensions of a city lot are twenty-five feet front by one hundred feet in depth. The four lots together made a plot of one hundred feet by one hundred, or a little less than quarter of an acre. In the country the whole would scarcely have been considered sufficient for a house with a good yard in front; but if people choose to live in the city they must make up their minds to be crowded.

"It looks small,--don't it?" said d.i.c.k. "I shouldn't think there was four lots there."

"Yes," said Mr. Murdock, "they are of the regular size. Some lots are only twenty feet wide. These are twenty-five. They don't look so large before they are built on."

"Well," said d.i.c.k, "I'm in for buying them."

"I think it will be a good investment for both of us," said Mr. Murdock.

"The money shall be ready whenever you want it," said d.i.c.k.

"Very well. I will see the owner to-morrow, or rather this evening, as it is best to be prompt, lest we might lose so favorable a bargain. I will make the best terms I can with him, and let you know the result to-morrow."

"All right!" said d.i.c.k. "Good-night, Mr. Murdock."

"Good-night. By-the-by, why won't you come round and take supper with us? My wife and children will be glad to make your acquaintance."

"Thank you," said d.i.c.k. "I will come some other evening with pleasure; but if I stay away without saying anything about it, Fosd.i.c.k won't know what's become of me."

d.i.c.k got back to Bleecker Street a little late for dinner. When he entered the dining-room, the remainder of the boarders were seated at the table.

"Come, Mr. Hunter, you must render an account of yourself," said Miss Peyton, playfully. "Why are you late this evening?"

"Suppose I don't tell," said d.i.c.k.

"Then you must pay a fine,--mustn't he, Mrs. Browning?"

"That depends upon who is to benefit by the fines," said the landlady.

"If they are to be paid to me, I shall be decidedly in favor of it. That reminds me that you were late to breakfast this morning, Miss Peyton."

"Oh, ladies mustn't be expected to pay fines," said Miss Peyton, shaking her ringlets. "They never have any money, you know."

"Then I think we must let Mr. Hunter off," said Mrs. Browning.

"If he will tell us what has detained him. You must excuse my curiosity, Mr. Hunter, but ladies, you know, are privileged to be curious."

"I don't mind telling," said d.i.c.k, helping himself to a piece of toast.

"I'm talking of buying some lots up-town, and went up with a friend to look at them."

Fosd.i.c.k looked at d.i.c.k, inquiringly, not knowing if he were in earnest or not.

"Indeed!" said Mr. Clifton. "May I inquire where the lots are situated?"

"I'll tell you if I buy them," said d.i.c.k; "but I don't want to run the risk of losing them."

"You needn't be afraid of my cutting you out," said Clifton. "I paid my washerwoman this morning, and haven't got but a dollar and a half over.

I suppose that won't buy the property."

"I wish it would," said d.i.c.k. "In that case I'd buy half a dozen lots."

"I suppose, from your investing in lots, Mr. Hunter, that you are thinking of getting married, and living in a house of your own," said Miss Peyton, simpering.

"No," said d.i.c.k, "I shan't get married for a year. n.o.body ought to be married before they're seventeen."

"That's just my age," said Miss Peyton.

Mr. Clifton afterwards informed d.i.c.k that Miss Peyton was twenty-five, but did not mention how he had ascertained. He likewise added that when he first came to the boarding-house, she had tried her fascinations upon him.

"She'd have married me in a minute," he said complacently; "but I'm too old a bird to be caught that way. When you see Mrs. Clifton, gentlemen, you'll see style and beauty, and--_money_" he added, after a moment's reflection.

Mr. Clifton had a tolerably good opinion of himself, as may be inferred from this remark. In fact, he valued himself rather more highly than the ladies appeared to do; but such cases are not remarkable.

"Mrs. Clifton will be a lucky woman," said d.i.c.k, with a sober face.

"You're very kind to say so," said Mr. Clifton, modestly. "I believe I'm tolerably good-looking, and n.o.body'll deny that I've got style. But money,--that's my weak point. You couldn't lend me five dollars, could you, till next week?"

"I'm afraid not," said d.i.c.k. "My up-town lots cost so much, and then there'll be the taxes afterwards."

"Oh, it's of no consequence. I thought a little of going to the opera to-night, and I need a new pair of gloves. It costs a sight to keep a fellow in gloves."

"So it does," said d.i.c.k. "I bought a pair for fifty cents six months ago, and now I've got to buy another pair."

"Ha, ha! good joke! By the way, I wonder you fellows don't take a better room."

"Why should we? Isn't this good enough?" asked Fosd.i.c.k.

"Oh, it's comfortable and all that," said Clifton; "but you know what I mean. You wouldn't want any of your fas.h.i.+onable friends to call upon you here."

"That's a fact," said d.i.c.k. "Suppose," he said, turning to Fosd.i.c.k, with a twinkle in his eye, "Johnny Nolan should call upon us here. What would he think of our living in such a room?"

"He would probably be surprised," said Fosd.i.c.k, entering into the joke.

"Is he one of your Madison-Avenue friends?" asked Clifton, a little mystified.

"I don't know where he lives," said d.i.c.k, with truth; "but he's a friend of mine, in business down town."

"Wholesale or retail?"

"Retail I should say,--shouldn't you, Fosd.i.c.k?"

"Yes," said Fosd.i.c.k, amused at Clifton's evident mystification.

"Well, good-evening, gents," said Clifton, sauntering out of the room.