...
"--just got home from another hobo-trip, Johnny?"
"You're almost right, Mr. Hartman."
"A pause....
"--been to see your father yet?"
"No, sir, I'm on the way there now ... just arrived this minute, on the
train from New York."
"I'm glad I caught sight of you, then, to prepare you." A longer pause
... mysteriously embarrassing, on his part.
"I have something to tell you about him ...--guess you're old enough to
stand plain talk ... sit down!"
I took a chair.
"You see, it's this way," and he leaned forward and put his hand on my
knee.. "it's women--a woman" ... he paused, I nodded to him to go on,
feeling very dramatic and important....
"It's Mrs. Jenkins, the widow, that has her hooks in him ... around
where he boards ... and, to be frank with you, he's going it so strong
with her that he's sick and rundown ... and not so right, at times, _up
here_!" and Hartman tapped his forehead with his forefinger
significantly....
"Now, you're the nearest one to him around here," he went on, "and I'll
tell you what we were going to do ... his lodge, of which I'm a member,
was going to give him a trip, to separate him from her, and cure him ...
you come back just pat....
"Has your daddy any relatives that can afford to entertain him, out in
the West, where you came from?"
"Yes, one of my uncles, his brother, is very well off, and would be glad
to take him in .
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