“‘The Opp Eagle,’” corrected Mr. Opp. “I don’t know as you know that I am the sole proprietor, as well as being the editor in addition.”
“No,” said Hinton, “I did not know. How does it happen that a man with such [p180] responsibilities can take time to dabble in oil-wells?”
“You don’t know me,” said Mr. Opp, with a paternal smile at his own ability. “Promoting and organizing comes as natural to me as breathing the atmosphere. I am engineering this scheme with one hand, the Town Improvement League with another, and ‘The Opp Eagle’ with another. Then, in a minor kind of way, I am a active Odd Fellow, first cornetist in the Unique Orchestra, and a director in the bank. And beside,” Mr. Opp concluded with some coyness, “there is the natural personal social diversions that most young men indulge in.”
By this time they had reached the gray old house on the river-bank, and Mr. Opp hitched the horse and held the lantern, while Hinton stepped from one stony island to another in the sea of mud.
“Just enter right into the dining-room,” said Mr. Opp, throwing open the door. “Unfortunately we are having a [p181] temporary difficulty with the parlor heating apparatus. If you’ll just pass right on up-stairs, I’ll show you the guest-chamber. Be careful of your head, please!”
With pomp and dignity Mr. Hinton was conducted to his apartment, and urged to make known any possible want that might occur to him.
“I’ll be obliged to leave you for a spell,” said Mr. Opp, “in order to attend to the proper putting up of the horse. If you’ll just consider everything you see as yours, and make yourself entirely at home, I’ll come up for you in about twenty minutes.”
Left alone, Hinton went to the bureau to pin a paper around the lamp, and as he did so he encountered a smiling face in the mirror. The face was undoubtedly his, but the smile seemed almost to belong to a stranger, so long had it been since he had seen it.
He made a hasty toilet, and sat down with his back to the light to await his summons to dinner. The large room, [p182] poorly and scantily furnished, gave unmistakable evidence of having been arranged especially for his coming. There was no covering on the floor, there were no pictures on the wall; but the wall-paper was of a sufficiently decorative character to warrant the absence of other adornment. It may be said to have been a botanical paper, for roses and lilies and sunflowers and daisies grew in riotous profusion. The man who hung the paper evidently was of a scientific turn, for in matching the strips he had gained some results in cross-grafting that approached the miraculous.
After sufficient time had elapsed to have stabled half a dozen horses, Hinton, whose appetite was becoming ravenous, went into the hall and started down the steps. When half-way down he heard a crash of china, and saw his host, in his shirt-sleeves, staggering under a large tray overcrowded with dishes.