74
             Disparagement of Nast.
Italy made a pet of him and called him the
fat boy (after him in �Pickwick�) and Peard
has written to him, in America.    Such an
ignorant little cub, too!         I heard him talk-
ing about you to Sol; he said you had 
told somebody you had tried to be civil to him,
but found he had nothing in him, so you were
thrown upon your own resources, which I
thought devilishly true.�   (Evidently a perversion
of last Sunday night�s incident; Alf hadn�t
heard it correctly � I didn�t set him right.)
I said Tommy had behaved with gratuitous
insolence enough towards me to have inspired
we me with a strong temptation towards kick-
ing his fat backside, but for the place where
it occurred; and was confirmed in my idea
that Nast is Sol�s pupil in his behavior, as
in his craft.   �He�s a mean little beggar,�
I said, catching the tone of Alf�s man-
ner � it does one good to abuse a fellow you
don�t like, you feel better afterwards.
�Yes,� said Waud, �though he did go to the
expense of paying $33 for a diamond-
ring to give to that girl he is fond of.  I
hear all about that, too, though they do
make such a dreadful mystery about it.�