And yet, whenever the sieving current of pedestrians brought
momentarily face to face with him a girl or woman, apparently
civilized and in the mode, who obviously had never seen him
before and seemed not to care if it should be her fate never to
repeat the experience, Talbot Potter had a certain desire. If
society had established a rule that all men must instantly obey
and act upon every fleeting impulse, Talbot Potter would have
taken that girl or woman by the shoulders and said to her:
"What's the matter with you!"
At Forty-second Street he crossed over, proceeded to the middle
of the block, and halted dreamily on the edge of the pavement,
his back to the crowd. His face was toward the Library, with
its two annoyed pet lions, typifying learning, and he appeared
to study the great building. One or two of the passersby had
seen him standing on that self-same spot before;--in fact, he
always stopped there whenever he walked down the Avenue.
For a little time (not too long) he stood there; and thus
absorbed he was, as they say, a Picture. Moreover, being such a
popular one, he attracted much interest.
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