"Never better in health," he said, "but very anxious to begin something definite in the way of work."
Mr. Weil smiled his most affable smile.
"What did I tell you to do, first?" he asked, playfully.
"To fall in love."
"Which you have not yet done!"
The young man shook his head.
"Good Heavens! And you have lost more than a week!"
Roseleaf colored more than ever.
"Isn"t there something else--that I could--begin on?" he asked, humbly.
"I don"t know of anything. Love is the alphabet of the novelist. You"d best go straight. Aren"t there any eligible young women at your lodging house?"
The younger man thought a moment.
"No; only the chambermaid."
Mr. Weil sipped his coffee with a wise expression.
"It may come to that," he said, putting down the cup, "but we"ll hope not. We will hope not. What"s the matter with Central Park? There are five hundred nice girls there every afternoon."
"But I don"t know them," said Roseleaf, desperately. "And--I have been there. Yesterday one of them looked at me and smiled. I walked toward her, and she slackened her speed. When I came within a few feet she almost stopped. Then--I could think of nothing to say to her, and I walked on, looking in the other direction."
Several breakfasters in the vicinity turned their heads to note the couple at the table, from which a laugh that could be heard all over the room came musically.
"Why didn"t you say "Good-morning?""
"Yes! And she might have said "Good-morning." And then it would be my turn, and what could I have done?"
Mr. Weil folded up his napkin and laid it by his plate.
"You coward," he replied, affably, "you could have done a thousand things. You could have remarked that the day was fair, or that you wondered if it would rain. And you could have asked her to stroll over to a restaurant and take a little refreshment. Once opposite to her, the rest would have come fast enough."
The novelist took out a handkerchief and wiped the perspiration from his forehead. It all seemed very easy the way Archie described it, but he was sure it would be very different in practice. How could he know, he demanded, that the young lady would go to the restaurant with him? She might have declined, and then he would have been in a worse position than ever.
"Declined!" echoed Archie. "Declined a lunch? Declined ice cream?
Declined champagne frappe! Well, you _are_ ignorant of the s.e.x. My dear boy, it is evident that I shall have to introduce you to the leading lady of your company, and if you will be patient for a very few days, I hope to be able to do so."
Rousing himself with a show of genuine interest, Roseleaf inquired for further particulars.
"Listen," replied the other. "I expect, to-morrow evening, to spend a few hours in the company of one of the most charming members of her s.e.x.
She, like you, has an ambition to become a successful writer. Like you, also, she lacks some of the prime qualities that are needed for that end. It happens, however, that the things wanting are entirely different in each of your cases--that you will, if you choose, be able to supplement and perfect each other. I shall tell her that I know a young man of literary taste who will give her advice on the points in which she is deficient. With such an opening you will be at once on Easy street, and if you cannot fall in love within forty-eight hours, I shall regard you as a case too hopeless to merit further attention at my hands."
The young man"s cheek glowed with pleasure.
"That is more like it," he said. "When do you think I shall be able to meet this young lady?"
"Within a week or two, at the latest. I must sound her before I trust you with her, for she is nearly as much a stranger to me, so far, as to you. Of course there is no objection--quite the contrary--to your falling in love elsewhere in the meantime, if opportunity serves."
At this moment Mr. Weil called his companion"s attention to a rather corpulent gentleman who had just entered the breakfast room and was stopping near the door to hold a brief conversation with some one he had met there.
"You see that fellow?" he remarked. "Wait a minute, and I will get him over here. If you ever want to put a real character into one of your stories you will only need to take his photograph. In actual life he is as dull as a rusty meat axe, but for literary purposes he would be a G.o.dsend."
Catching the eye of the person of whom he was speaking, Mr. Weil motioned to him to come to his part of the room, and as he approached arranged a chair for him invitingly.
"Mr. Boggs, I want to present a young friend of mine to you," said Archie, rising. "Mr. Walker Boggs--Mr. Shirley Roseleaf."
Mr. Boggs went through the usual ceremony, announcing that he was most happy, etc., in the perfunctory style that a million other men follow every day. Then he took the chair that was offered him, and gave an order for his breakfast to a waiter.
"Are you a New Yorker, Mr. Roseleaf?" he asked, when this important matter was disposed of.
"Mr. Roseleaf is staying here for the present," explained Mr. Weil. "He is a novelist by profession, and I tell him there is no better place to study the sensational than this vicinity."
The young man"s color deepened. He doubted if it was right to introduce the subject in exactly these terms. Mr. Boggs" next question did not detract from his uneasiness.
"Excuse me--I am not altogether up in current literature, and I must ask what Mr. Roseleaf has written."
Mr. Weil helped his young friend out of this dilemma as well as he could.
"He has written nothing, as yet; at least nothing that has been printed," he said. "He is wise, I think, in laying a deep foundation for his romances, instead of rushing into print with the first thoughts that enter his head, as so many do, to their own subsequent regret and the distress of their readers. I want him to meet men and women who have known what life is by their own experiences. You ought to be worth something to a bright writer, Walker. You have had many an adventure in your day."
Mr. Walker Boggs shrugged his shoulders.
"In my "day," yes," he a.s.sented. "Enough to fill the Astor and Lenox libraries and leave enough for Charlie Dillingham and The American News Company. But that is nothing but history now. My "day" is over and it will never return."
He paused and ran his right hand dejectedly across his vest in the vicinity of the waist band. Though he knew perfectly what Mr. Boggs referred to, Archie Weil wanted him to express it in his own words to Shirley.
"You wouldn"t think," continued Mr. Boggs, after a pause which seemed filled with strange emotions, "that my figure was once the admiration of every lady who saw it, that they used to stop and gaze at me with eyes of positive envy. And now--look at this!"
He indicated his embonpoint again, and shook his head wrathfully.
"It is simply d.a.m.nable," he continued, as neither of the others thought best to interrupt him. "When I was twenty-four I had a reputation that was as wide as the continent. When I walked down Broadway you would have supposed a procession was pa.s.sing, the crowds gathered in such numbers.
If it was mentioned that I would spend a week at Saratoga or Newport, the hotels had not a room to spare while I remained. The next year I married, and as one of the fashion journals put it, two thousand women went into mourning. For a decade I devoted myself entirely to my wife and to business. I made some money, and kept out of the public eye.
Then my wife died, and I retired from the firm with which I had been connected. The next twelve months dragged terribly. I did not know what to do. Finally I decided that there was but one course open to me. I must resume again the position I had vacated as a leader of fashion."
Mr. Weil bowed, as if to say that this was a very natural and praiseworthy conclusion; precisely as if he had not heard the story told in substantially the same way a dozen times before. He was watching Roseleaf"s interested expression and had difficulty in repressing an inclination to laugh aloud.
"I sought out the best tailor in the city," continued Mr. Boggs. "I went to the most fashionable hair dresser. I spent considerable time in selecting hats, cravats and gloves. When all was ready I took a stroll, as I had done in the old days, from Fiftieth street, down Fifth Avenue and Broadway to Union Square. I met a few acquaintances who stared at me slightly, but did not act in the least impressed. The women merely glanced up and glanced away again. What was the matter? I went home and took a long survey of myself in the mirror, a cheval gla.s.s that showed me from crown to toe. My costume was perfect. There was not a wrinkle in my face--this was several years ago, remember. There was not a gray hair in my head then--there are a few now, I admit. "What is it?" I asked myself a hundred times as I stood there, studying out the cursed problem. My tie was all right, my shirt front of the latest cut, my watch chain straight from Tiffany"s, my--ah! I saw it all in a moment!"
Roseleaf, who did not see it even yet, wore such an astonished expression that Mr. Weil had to stuff his napkin into his mouth to prevent an explosion.
"It was this devilish abdomen!" said Mr. Boggs, slapping that portion of his frame as if he had a special grudge against it and would be glad if he could hit it hard enough to bring it to a realizing sense of its turpitude. "My figure had gone to the devil! It was not as large as it is now, but it was large enough to cook my gruel. My waist had increased so gradually that I had never noticed it. I got a tape and took its measure. Forty-two inches, sir! The jig was up. With a heart as young as ever, with a face as good and a purse able to supply all reasonable demands, I was knocked out of the race on the first round by this adipose tissue that no ingenuity could hope to conceal!"