“Wedding March” in a manner that never failed to arouse enthusiasm among the patrons of the “Club.”  Very few nights passed during which I was not asked to play it.  It was no secret that the great increase in slumming visitors was due to my playing.  By mastering ragtime I gained several things:  first of all, I gained the title of professor.  I was known as “the professor” as long as I remained in that world.  Then, too, I gained the means of earning a rather fair livelihood.  This work took up much of my time and kept me almost entirely away from the gambling table.  Through it I also gained a friend who was the means by which I escaped from this lower world.  And, finally, I secured a wedge which has opened to me more doors and made me a welcome guest than my playing of Beethoven and Chopin could ever have done.

The greater part of the money I now began to earn came through the friend to whom I alluded in the foregoing paragraph.  Among the other white “slummers” there came into the “Club” one night a clean-cut, slender, but athletic-looking man, who would have been taken for a youth had it not been for the tinge of gray about his temples.  He was clean-shaven and had regular features, and all of his movements bore the indefinable but unmistakable stamp of culture.  He spoke to no one, but sat languidly puffing cigarettes and sipping a glass of beer.  He was the center of a great deal of attention; all of the old-timers were wondering who he was.  When I had finished playing, he called a waiter and by him sent me a five-dollar bill.  For about a month after that he was at the “Club” one or two nights each week, and each time after I had played, he gave me five dollars.  One night he sent for me to come to his table; he asked me several questions about myself; then told me that he had an engagement which he wanted me to fill.  He gave me a card containing his address and asked me to be there on a certain night.

I was on hand promptly and found that he was giving a dinner in his own apartments to a party of ladies and gentlemen and that I was expected to furnish the musical entertainment.  When the grave, dignified man at the door let me in, the place struck me as being almost dark, my eyes had been so accustomed to the garish light of the “Club.”  He took my coat and hat, bade me take a seat, and went to tell his master that I had come.  When my eyes were adjusted to the soft light, I saw that I was in the midst of elegance and luxury in a degree such as I had never seen; but not the elegance which makes one ill at ease.  As I sank into a great chair, the subdued tone, the delicately sensuous harmony of my surroundings, drew from me a deep sigh of relief and comfort.  How long the man was gone I do not know, but I was startled by a voice saying:  “Come this way, if you please, sir,” and I saw him standing by my chair.  I had been asleep; and I awoke very much confused and a little ashamed, because I did not know how many times he may have called me.