The World of Chance by William Dean Howells

The stranger skipped into step with Ray more lightly than would have / been expected from one of his years. He wore a soft felt hat over locks / of silken silver that were long enough to touch his beautiful white / beard. He wore it with an effect of intention, as if he knew it was out / of character with the city, but was so much in character with himself / that the city must be left to reconcile itself to the incongruity or / not, as it chose. For the same reason, apparently, his well-fitting / frock-coat was of broadcloth, instead of modern diagonal; a black silk / handkerchief tied in an easy knot at his throat strayed from under his / beard, which had the same waviness as his hair; he had black trousers, / and drab gaiters showing themselves above wide, low shoes. In his hands, / which he held behind him, he dangled a stick with an effect of leisure / and ease, enhanced somehow by the stoop he made towards the young / fellow's lower stature, and by his refusal to lift his voice above a / certain pitch, whatever the uproar of the street about them. Ray / screamed out his words, but the stranger spoke in what seemed his wonted / tone, and left Ray to catch the words as he could.

"I didn't think," he said, after a moment, and with some misgiving, / that this stranger who had got into step with him might be some kind of / confidence man -- "I didn't think that fellow looked like a thief much."

"You are a believer in physiognomy? " asked the stranger, with a / philosophic poise. He had himself a regular face, with gay eyes, and a / fine pearly tint; lips that must have been beautiful shaped his / branching mustache to a whimsical smile.

"No," said Ray. "I wasn't near enough to see his face. But he looked so / decent and quiet, and he behaved with so much dignity. Perhaps it was / his spectacles."

"Glasses can do much," said the stranger, "to redeem the human / countenance, even when worn as a protest against the presence of one's / portrait in the rogues' gallery. I don't say you're wrong; I'm only / afraid the chances are that you'll never be proved right. I should / prefer to make a speculative approach to the facts on another plane. As / you suggest, he had a sage and dignified appearance; I observed it / myself; he had the effect -- how shall I express it? -- of some sort of / studious rustic. Say he was a belated farm youth, working his way / through a fresh-water college, who had great latent gifts of peculation, / such as might have won him a wide newspaper celebrity as a defaulter / later in life, and under more favorable conditions. He finds himself / alone in a great city for the first time, and is attracted by the / display of the trunk-dealer's cellarway. The opportunity seems favorable / to the acquisition of a neat travelling-bag; perhaps he has never owned / one, or he wishes to present it to the object of his affections, or to a / sick mother; he may have had any respectable motive; but his outlook has / been so restricted that he cannot realize the difference between / stealing a travelling-bag and stealing, say, a street; though I believe / Mr. Sharp only bought Broadway of those who did not own it, and who sold / it low; but never mind, it may stand for an illustration. If this young / man had stolen a street, he would not have been arrested and handcuffed / in that disgraceful way and led off to the dungeon-keep of the Jefferson / Market Police Court -- I presume that is the nearest prison, though I / won't be quite positive -- but he would have had to be attacked and / exposed a long time in the newspapers; and he would have had counsel, / and the case would have been fought from one tribunal to another, till / at last he wouldn't have known whether he was a common criminal or a / public benefactor. The difficulty in his case is simply an inadequate / outlook."

The philosophic stranger lifted his face and gazed round over Ray's / head, but he came to a halt at the same time with the young fellow. / "Well, sir," he said, with bland ceremony, "I must bid you good-morning. / As we go our several ways let us remember the day's lesson, and when we / steal, always steal enough."

He held out his hand, and Ray took it with a pleasure in his discourse / which he was wondering how he should express to him. He felt it due / himself to say something clever in return, but he could not think of / anything. "I'm sure I shall remember your interpretation of it," was all / he could get out.

"Ah, well, don't act upon that without due reflection," the stranger / said; and he gave Ray's hand a final and impressive downward shake. / "Dear me! " he added, for Ray made no sign of going on. "Are we both / stopping here -- two spiders at the parlor of the same unsuspecting fly? / But perhaps you are merely a buyer, not a writer, of books? After you, / sir!"

The stranger promoted a little polite rivalry that ensued between them; / he ended it by passing one hand through the young man's arm, and with / the other pressing open the door which they had both halted at, and / which bore on either jamb a rounded metallic plate with the sign, "H. C. / Chapley & Co., Publishers. " Within, he released Ray with a courteous / bow, as if willing to leave him now to his own devices. He went off to a / distant counter in the wide, low room, and occupied himself with the / books on it; Ray advanced and spoke to a clerk, who met him half-way. He / asked for Mr. Chapley, and the clerk said he was not down yet -- he seldom / got down so early; but Mr. Brandreth would be in almost any minute now. / When Ray said he had a letter for the firm, and would wait if the clerk / pleased, the clerk asked if he would not take a chair in Mr. Brandreth's / room.