"It suits
my pocket."
Just then the dining room doors were opened, and Thorne cordially invited
Job to stay to dinner. The invitation was accepted, and they entered the
dining room together.
This was a strange fellowship. Each knew the other, and knowing him was
intent on outwitting him; consequently the conversation was abstract,
abstruse, and uninteresting.
It was a strange phase of hospitality. When the meal was ended neither of
the men could have told what he had eaten, or what he had said.
CHAPTER VI
OUT HERODING HEROD
While eating dinner the younger man assumed the lead in the matter of
conversation, and it became general in its character.
"Mr. Worth," remarked Thorne, "you say that economy took you to the Mount
Vernon. Now, I happen to have two beds in my room. What do you say to
sharing one of them with me? It will cost you no more than you are
paying, and I judge that the service here is much better than in your
present hotel."
This proposition rather pleased Job, and the arrangement was accordingly
perfected, and the evening found the two men genially smoking their
cigars quite like two old friends.
This proposition of Thorne was not as generous as Worth might have
supposed. There lurked in the former's mind an indistinct suspicion. Nay,
it was more than a suspicion, and he reasoned that if this man was what
he feared he was, he could parry the danger better by having him under
his eye, for even now he was concocting a scheme of escape.
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