"
"Spoken with your usual candor, my dear Briton!" she exclaimed.
"Well, I will gratify your curiosity. This, as you see, is not a
popular supping place. A few people come in--mostly those who
for some reason or other don't feel smart enough for the big
restaurants. The people from the theatres come in here who have
not time to change their clothes. As you perceive; the place has
a distinctly Bohemian flavor."
Tavernake looked around.
"They seem to come in all sorts of clothes," he remarked. "I am
glad."
"There is a man now in London," Elizabeth continued, "whom I am
just as anxious to see as I am to find my sister. I believe that
this is the most likely place to find him. That is why I have
come. My father was to have been here to take me, but as you
heard he has gone out somewhere and not returned. None of my
other friends were available. You happened to come in just in
time."
"And this man whom you want to see," Tavernake asked, "is he
here?"
"Not yet," she answered.
There were, indeed, only a few scattered groups in the place, and
most of these were obviously theatrical. But even at that moment
a man came in alone through the circular doors, and stood just
inside, looking around him. He was a man of medium height, thin,
and of undistinguished appearance. His hair was light-colored
and plastered a little in front over his forehead. His face was
thin and he walked with a slight stoop. Something about his
clothes and his manner of wearing them stamped him as an
American.
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