The thing that most interested Clyde at first was how, if at all, he was to keep the major portion of all this moneyhe was making for himself. For ever since he had been working and earning money, it had been assumed that hewould contribute a fair portion of all that he received--at least three-fourths of the smaller salaries he hadreceived up to this time--toward the upkeep of the home. But now, if he announced that he was receiving at leasttwenty-five dollars a week and more--and this entirely apart from the salary of fifteen a month and board--hisparents would assuredly expect him to pay ten or twelve.

　　But so long had he been haunted by the desire to make himself as attractive looking as any other well-dressedboy that, now that he had the opportunity, he could not resist the temptation to equip himself first and as speedilyas possible. Accordingly, he decided to say to his mother that all of the tips he received aggregated no more thana dollar a day. And, in order to give himself greater freedom of action in the matter of disposing of his sparetime, he announced that frequently, in addition to the long hours demanded of him every other day, he wasexpected to take the place of other boys who were sick or set to doing other things. And also, he explained thatthe management demanded of all boys that they look well outside as well as inside the hotel. He could not longbe seen coming to the hotel in the clothes that he now wore. Mr. Squires, he said, had hinted as much. But, as ifto soften the blow, one of the boys at the hotel had told him of a place where he could procure quite all the thingsthat he needed on time.

　　And so unsophisticated was his mother in these matters that she believed him.

　　But that was not all. He was now daily in contact with a type of youth who, because of his larger experience withthe world and with the luxuries and vices of such a life as this, had already been inducted into certain forms oflibertinism and vice even which up to this time were entirely foreign to Clyde's knowledge and set him agapewith wonder and at first with even a timorous distaste. Thus, as Hegglund had pointed out, a certain percentageof this group, of which Clyde was now one, made common cause in connection with quite regular adventureswhich usually followed their monthly pay night. These adventures, according to their moods and their cash at thetime, led them usually either to one of two rather famous and not too respectable all-night restaurants. In groups,as he gathered by degrees from hearing them talk, they were pleased to indulge in occasional late showy supperswith drinks, after which they were wont to go to either some flashy dance hall of the downtown section to pickup a girl, or that failing as a source of group interest, to visit some notorious--or as they would have deemed itreputed--brothel, very frequently camouflaged as a boarding house, where for much less than the amount of cashin their possession they could, as they often boasted, "have any girl in the house." And here, of course, becauseof their known youth, ignorance, liberality, and uniform geniality and good looks, they were made much of, as arule, being made most welcome by the various madames and girls of these places who sought, for commercialreasons of course, to interest them to come again.

　　And so starved had been Clyde's life up to this time and so eager was he for almost any form of pleasure, thatfrom the first he listened with all too eager ears to any account of anything that spelled adventure or pleasure.

　　Not that he approved of these types of adventures. As a matter of fact at first it offended and depressed him,seeing as he did that it ran counter to all he had heard and been told to believe these many years. Nevertheless sos............