"Shall we take a look?" I nodded, and we alighted and pushed our way to the front. It was a young man who stood there, rather a nice-looking chap, with a broad forehead from which the thin, fair hair fell away in a tumbled wave. He was attired in evening clothes, assuredly an unusual sight in Abingdon Square, where they do not dress for dinner, and the expression upon his countenance was that of recklessness tempered with a certain half-humorous melancholy. "One dollar," he repeated, as we came within sight and hearing. "Do I hear no other bid? One dollar, one dollar. Will any gentleman make it a half?" "I'll give fifty for your skull alone," spoke up a youngish, sallow-faced man who stood directly opposite the stand. "On condition," he added, in a lower tone, "that the goods are delivered at Bellevue before the end of the week. Foot of Twenty-sixth Street, you know." The young man smiled with a pathetic quizzicality. "Now, doctor," he said, reproachfully, "there's no use in going over that ground again. I made the terms of the sale perfectly plain, and there can be no deviation from them." "Well, if that's your last word," retorted the unsuccessful bidder, "I'll say good-evening." He turned to Indiman, who stood at his elbow. "A fakir," he growled, disgustedly. "Now, I'll leave it to you, sir." "If you will acquaint me with the essential particulars," said Indiman, "I shall be most happy to pronounce upon them." "In two words. This cheap josher has been offering to sell himself, out and out, to the highest bidder. I make him a cash offer and he takes water." "Pardon me," interrupted the young man in evening dress, "but your bid is plainly for what the students in medical colleges call a 'subject.' Now, I expressly disclaimed any intention of terminating my material existence at any fixed period in the future. On the contrary, it is for the purpose of prolonging my life that I am driven to this extraordinary procedure. It is myself, my talents, and my services of which I desire to dispose. My skull, in which you seem to take such an interest, goes, of course, with the bargain. But I do not guarantee immediate delivery." "Your services," sneered the student of medicine. "May I inquire into their nature and nominal cash valuation?" "I am an experienced leader of the cotillon," answered the young man in evening clothes, with a sweet and serious dignity. "Umph!" "I play a fair hand at Bridge, and have an unexceptionable eye for matching worsteds." "G-r-r!" "That about sums up my list of accomplishments, but I dare say that I could learn to dig, for I have my full complement of limbs. Finally, a rare and pretty talent for losing money and a penchant for the unlucky side of everything."