While it was true that Felix, since Masie's party, had gained the complete good-will of his neighbors, there were, strange as it may seem, certain individuals who, while they acknowledged the charm of his personality, resented his quiet reserve.

What nettled them most was his not having told them at once who he was and why he had come to Kling's, and why he had stayed on wrapped in mystery.

They considered themselves, so to speak, as defrauded of something which was their right and said so in plain terms.
"Well, I hope it won't be a pair of handcuffs they'll surprise him with some day"; or, "When that pal of his turns up, then you'll see fun," being some of the suggestions frequently made over counters, to be answered by his loyal adherents with a "Well, I don't care what ye say.
I ain't never come across no man any better than Felix O'Day since I lived here, and that's no lie." There were others, too, who refused to believe any good of the self-contained, reticent stranger.

The nephew of somebody's brother-in-law, who lived in Lexington Avenue, was one.

He had been promised, by the cousin of somebody else, the position of clerk with Otto Kling, and although Otto had never heard of it, he WOULD have heard of it and the nephew been duly installed but for "a galoot who SAID his name was O'Day." And another thing.