Up the street they went,
past stores and gay shops, across a broad square, until
with a hundred others they entered the high portal of a great
building.
He was pushed toward the ticket-office with the others, and
felt in his pocket for the new five-dollar bill he had hoarded.
There seemed really no time for hesitation, so he drew it
bravely out, passed it to the busy clerk, and received simply a
ticket but no change. When at last he realized that he had
paid five dollars to enter he knew not what, he stood stockstill
amazed. "Be careful," said a low voice behind him; "you
must not lynch the colored gentleman simply because he's in
your way," and a girl looked up roguishly into the eyes of
her fair-haired escort. A shade of annoyance passed over the
escort's face. "You WILL not understand us at the South," he
said half impatiently, as if continuing an argument. "With all
your professions, one never sees in the North so cordial and
intimate relations between white and black as are everyday
occurrences with us. Why, I remember my closest playfellow
in boyhood was a little Negro named after me, and surely no
two,--WELL!" The man stopped short and flushed to the roots
of his hair, for there directly beside his reserved orchestra
chairs sat the Negro he had stumbled over in the hallway.
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