an undershirt, was smoking a small
"T. D." pipe.

"Where on earth did you come from?" he inquired good-naturedly.

"Washington," answered Thornton, and something told him that this was
the real thing--the "goods"--that his journey would be repaid.

Hooker waved the "T. D." in a general sort of way toward some
broken-down horsehair armchairs and an empty crate.

"Sit down, won't you?" he said, as if he had seen his guest only the day
before. He looked vaguely about for something that Thornton might smoke,
then seated himself on a cluttered bench holding a number of retorts,
beside which flamed an oxyacetylene blowpipe. He was a wizened little
chap, with scrawny neck and protruding Adam's apple. His long hair gave
no evidence of the use of the comb, and his hands were the hands of
Esau. He had an alertness that suggested a robin, but at the same time
gave the impression that he looked through things rather than at them.
On the mantel was a saucer containing the fast oxidizing cores of
several apples and a half-eaten box of oatmeal biscuits.

"My Lord! This is an untidy hole! No more order than when you were an
undergrad!" exclaimed Thornton, looking about him in amused horror.

"Order?" returned Bennie indignantly. "Everything's in perfect order!
This chair is filled with the letters I _have_ already answered; this
chair with the letters I've _not_ answered; and this chair with the
letters I shall _never_ answer!"

Thornton took a seat on the crate, laughing. It was the same old Bennie!

"You're an incorrigible!" he sighed despairingly.

"Well, you're a star gazer, aren't you?" inquired Hooker, relighting his
pipe. "Some one told me so--I forget who. You must have a lot of
interesting problems. They tell me that new planet of yours is full of
uranium."

Thornton laughed. "You mustn't believe all that you read in the papers.
What are you working at particularly?"

"Oh, radium and thermic induction mostly," answered Hooker. "And when I
want a rest I take a crack at the fourth dimension--spacial curvature's
my hobby. But I'm always working at radio stuff. That's where the big
things are going to be pulled off, you know."

"Yes, of course," answered Thornton. He wondered if Hooker ever saw a
paper, how long since he had been out of the house. "By the way, did you
know Berlin had been taken?" he asked.

"Berlin--in Germany, you mean?"

"Yes, by the Russians."

"No! Has it?" inquired Hooker with politeness. "