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He slept in the little room which opened from Ried's, but his meals were picked up at a restaurant, as occasion offered, a much nicer and surer method of living than he had ever known before. Even the commonest restaurant had great respectability to him. Yet you will remember that he had by this time taken several suppers in Mrs. Roberts' dining-room.
Among the early shoppers on Monday morning came Mrs. Evan Roberts. Shopping, however, seemed to be a small part of her business. She came directly to young Ried's counter, and addressed him very much as though she had ceased talking with him but a moment before: "Mr. Ried, what can you and I do for those boys during the week?" But Alfred was at his gloomiest.
John now presented himself at the door with a respectful, "If you please, sir, there is a person in the hall who persists in seeing Mr. Foster." "Show him in, then," was Mr. Ried's prompt reply. John hesitated, and then added: "He is a very common looking person, sir, and "
As it was she hesitated, and thought not of Ester, her life had not been such as to be counted for a moment of her mother. Well, Mrs. Ried's religion had been of a negative rather than of a positive sort, at least outwardly. She never spoke much of these matters, and Sadie positively did not know whether she ever prayed or not.
Ried's account that gave me courage was, 'Every one has failed, so far; people are unwilling to take the class a second time. I have failed, but I want to try again."
Roberts smiled significantly as her eye caught Alfred Ried's, and she said: "I have visions of sacred Sabbath evening half-hours, connected with this corner, one of these days; meantime, is this a pleasant room for our Monday evenings?" But Alfred could not answer her; his head was turned away, and there was a suspicious lump in his throat, that made him know better than to attempt speech.
Saunders, the mistress of it, was one whom, if you had known her, you would feel sure could interest herself heartily in such as he. There was a bit of a room next to Ried's. To be sure, it had been used for a clothes-press, and it took the busy housekeeper half a day to plan how she could get along without it; but she planned, and offered it to Ried for his protege.
Despite the laughter there was a suspicious mist in Mr. Ried's eyes. "How far is mirth removed from tears?" he asked his hostess.
"Why, nothing," said Sadie; "only here is the very fish so renowned in ancient history, and I've brought her for your inspection." This answer brought Mrs. Ried's eyes around from the dough, and fixed them upon Julia; and she said, as soon as she caught a glimpse of the forlorn little maiden: "O, my patience!"
Ried's girlhood to the young beauty who bore her name, and had been waiting all this time for Sadie to attain proper growth to admit of its being cut into for her.
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