"The very words, sir, he'd used to me.
"'Hooray!' cried Lemon, 'we're brothers, you and me, and we'll never, never part.'
"'I once kep a barber's shop myself,' said Devlin.
"'What!' cried Lemon, 'are you one of us?'
"'I am,' said Devlin, 'and I've worked for the best in the trade--for Truefitt and Shipwright, and all the rest of 'em. I've been abroad studying the new styles. I'll show you something as 'll make you open your eyes, something splendid.'
"And before I knew where I was, sir, Devlin, in his shirt-sleeves, had whipped a large towel round my neck, and had my hair all down, and was beginning to dress it. Where he got the towel from, and the combs, and the curling-tongs, and the fire, goodness only knows. I didn't see him take them from nowhere, but there they was on the table, and there was Devlin, with his hands in my hair, frizzling it up and corkscrewing it, and twisting and twirling it, and me setting in the chair for all the world as if I'd been turned into stone. But though I didn't have the power to move, I could think about things, and what come into my head was that the man as had taken the second floor front must be some unearthly creature, sprung from I won't mention where.
"'Do you really believe so?' whispered Devlin in my ear.
"'Believe what?' I asked, though my throat was that hot and dry that I wondered how he could make out what I said.
"'That I am an unearthly creature,' he said softly, 'sprung from a place which shouldn't be mentioned to ears perlite?'
"If I was petrified before, sir, you may guess how I felt when I found out that he knew what I was thinking of.