I shall also ask you
to do me the honor of dining with me. I think I am right in saying that we
are not altogether strangers?"
"I know you very well by sight," I told him. "I have seen you here several
times before with a young lady."
"Exactly," he agreed. "My daughter, sir."
"Then for the sake of your daughter," I said, with an enthusiasm that was
not in the least assumed, "I can assure you that, whether as host or
guest, you are very welcome to sit at my table. As for this packet--"
"Keep it for a few moments, my young friend," the newcomer interrupted,
"just while I recover my breath, that is all. Have confidence in me.
Things may happen here very shortly. Sit tight and you will never regret
it. My name, so far as you are concerned, is Joseph H. Parker. Tell me,
you are facing the door, some one has just entered. Who is it?"
"A stranger," I replied; "a stranger to this place, I am sure. He is tall
and dark; he is a little lantern-jawed--a hatchet-shaped face, I should
call it."
"My man, right enough," Mr. Joseph H. Parker muttered. "Don't seem to
notice him particularly," he added, "but tell me what he is doing."
"He seems to have entered in a hurry," I announced, "and is now taking off
his overcoat.
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