CHAPTER XXV.
UNCLE JOHN ACTS QUEERLY.
When Patsy and the Major had both departed for work on Monday morning Uncle John boarded a car and rode downtown also.

He might have accompanied them part of the way, but feared Patsey might think him extravagant if she found him so soon breaking into the working fund of forty-two cents, which she charged him to be careful of.
He seemed to be in no hurry, for it was early yet, and few of the lower Broadway establishments were open.

To pass the time he turned into a small restaurant and had coffee and a plate of cakes, in spite of the fact that Patsy had so recently prepared coffee over the sheet-iron stove and brought some hot buns from a near-by bakery.

He was not especially hungry; but in sipping the coffee and nibbling the cakes he passed the best part of an hour.
He smiled when he paid out twenty-five cents of his slender store for the refreshment.

With five cents for car-fare he had now but twelve cents left of the forty-two Patsy had given him! Talk about the Major's extravagance: it could not be compared to Uncle John's.
Another hour was spent in looking in at the shop windows.