the receiver, and asked despondently to be connected
with Room Service. He thought bitterly of the exigent Jane, whom he
recollected dimly as a tall female with teeth. He half thought of going
down to the grill-room on the chance of finding a friend there, but the
waiter was on his way to the room. He decided that he might as well stay
where he was.

The waiter arrived, booked the order, and departed. Archie had just
completed his toilet after a shower-bath when a musical clinking without
announced the advent of the meal. He opened the door. The waiter was
there with a table congested with things under covers, from which
escaped a savoury and appetising odour. In spite of his depression,
Archie's soul perked up a trifle.

Suddenly he became aware that he was not the only person present who
was deriving enjoyment from the scent of the meal. Standing beside the
waiter and gazing wistfully at the foodstuffs was a long, thin boy of
about sixteen. He was one of those boys who seem all legs and knuckles.
He had pale red hair, sandy eyelashes, and a long neck; and his eyes, as
he removed them from the-table and raised them to Archie's, had a hungry
look. He reminded Archie of a half-grown, half-starved hound.

"That smells good!" said the long boy. He inhaled deeply. "Yes, sir," he
continued, as one whose mind is definitely made up, "that smells good!"

Before Archie could reply, the telephone bell rang. It was Lucille,
confirming her prophecy that the pest Jane would insist on her staying
to dine.

"Jane," said Archie, into the telephone, "is a pot of poison. The waiter
is here now, setting out a rich banquet, and I shall have to eat two of
everything by myself."

He hung up the receiver, and, turning, met the pale eye of the long boy,
who had propped himself up in the doorway.

"Were you expecting somebody to dinner?" asked the boy.

"Why, yes, old friend, I was."

"I wish--"

"Yes?"

"Oh, nothing."

The waiter left. The long boy hitched his back more firmly against the
doorpost, and returned to his original theme.

"That surely does smell good!" He basked a moment in the aroma. "Yes,
sir! I'll tell the world it does!"

Archie was not an abnormally rapid thinker, but he began at this point
to get a clearly defined impression that this lad, if invited, would
waive the formalities and consent to join his meal. Indeed, the idea
Archie got was that, if he were not invited pretty soon, he would invite
himself.