"A good representative of our
city's best blood and manners, and yes, of morals, too."
Robert went alone the next morning to the new public library, founded
the year before and known as the New York Society Library, a novelty
then and a great evidence of municipal progress. The most eminent men
of the city, appointed by Governor de Lancey, were its trustees, and,
the collection already being large, Robert spent a happy hour or two
glancing through the books. History and fiction appealed most to him,
but he merely looked a little here and there, opening many volumes. He
was proud that the intelligence and enterprise of New York had founded
so noble an institution and he promised himself that if, in the time
to come, he should be a permanent resident of the city, his visits
there would be frequent.
When he left the library it was about noon, the day being cloudy and
dark with flurries of snow, those who were in the streets shivering
with the raw cold. Robert drew his own heavy cloak closely about him,
and, bending his head a little, strolled toward the Battery, in order
to look again at the ships that came from so many parts of the
earth. A stranger, walking in slouching fashion, and with the collar
of his coat pulled well up about his face, shambled directly in his
way.
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