The Banner was only one of a kind. It stood to the stranger and the man
and woman without connections for the whole social life. It was a
substitute--poor, it must be confessed--to many youths for the home life
which is so lacking among certain classes in New York.

Here the rounders congregated, or came and spent the hours until it was
time to go forth to bout or assignation. Here too came sometimes the
curious who wanted to see something of the other side of life. Among
these, white visitors were not infrequent,--those who were young enough
to be fascinated by the bizarre, and those who were old enough to know
that it was all in the game. Mr. Skaggs, of the New York _Universe_, was
one of the former class and a constant visitor,--he and a "lady friend"
called "Maudie," who had a penchant for dancing to "Rag-time" melodies
as only the "puffessor" of such a club can play them. Of course, the
place was a social cesspool, generating a poisonous miasma and reeking
with the stench of decayed and rotten moralities. There is no defence to
be made for it. But what do you expect when false idealism and fevered
ambition come face to face with catering cupidity?

It was into this atmosphere that Thomas had introduced the boy Joe, and
he sat there now by his side, firing his mind by pointing out the
different celebrities who came in and telling highly flavoured stories
of their lives or doings. Joe heard things that had never come within
the range of his mind before.

"Aw, there 's Skaggsy an' Maudie--Maudie 's his girl, y' know, an' he 's
a reporter on the N' Yawk _Universe_. Fine fellow, Skaggsy."

Maudie--a portly, voluptuous-looking brunette--left her escort and went