"Good evening," said the young man, pausing in his amusement, "What can I do for you?" "I see ye got a job," said Uncle Bobbie. "Yes," Dick replied, as he shuffled the cards; "and a very good one too." "Huh! looks like ye weren't overworked just now." "Oh, this is out of hours; we quit at six, you know." "Strikes me ye might find somethin' better to do than foolin' with them dirty pasteboards, if 'tis out of hours;" said Mr. Wicks, pointedly. "They are rather soiled," remarked Dick, critically examining the queen of hearts; and then he continued, in a matter-of-fact tone, "you see I found them back of the coal box; some fellow had thrown them away, I guess. Lucky for me that he did." "Lucky for you? Is that the best you can do with your time?" "Perhaps you would suggest some more elevating amusement," smiled Dick. "Well, why don't you read somethin'?" The young man waved his pipe toward a lot of month-old papers and printers journals--"My dear sir, I have gone through that pile three times and have exhausted every almanac in this establishment." "Visit some of your friends." "Not one in the city except Udell," answered the other, "and if I had--" he glanced down at his worn clothing. Mr. Wicks tried again; "Well, go somewhere." "Where?" asked Dick. "There is only one place open to _me_--the saloon--I haven't money enough for that, and if I had, I wouldn't spend it there now. I might go to some respectable gambling den, I suppose, but there's the money question again, and my foolish pride, so I play solitaire. I know I am in good company at least, if the sport isn't quite so exciting." Uncle Bobbie was silent. The rain swished against the windows and roared on the tin roof of the building; the last car of the evening, with one lone passenger, scurried along Broadway, its lights brightly reflected on the wet pavement; a cab rumbled toward the hotel, the sound of the horses' feet dull and muffled in the mist; and a solitary policeman, wrapped in his rubber coat, made his way along the almost deserted street. As Uncle Bobbie stood listening to the lonely sounds and looking at the young man, with his corn-cob pipe and pack of dirty cards, he thought of his own cheery fireside and of his waiting wife. "To-be-sure," he said at last, carefully placing his umbrella in a corner near the door, and as carefully removing his coat and hat; "To-be-sure, I quit smokin' sometime ago--'bout a month, I reckon--used to smoke pretty nigh all the time, but wife she wanted me to quit--I don't know as there is any use in it." A long pause followed, as he drew a chair to the stove and seated himself. "To-be-sure, I don't know as there's any great harm in it either." There was another pause, while Dick also placed his chair near the stove--"and I git so plaguey fat every time I quit."