* * * * *
"What you talking to me for?"
The newspaper man smiles disarmingly at this sudden inquiry.
"Oh, I don't know," he says. "Saw you standing still. You looked different. Wondered, you know. Just kind of thought to say hello."
"Funny," says the motionless one.
"I got a hunch you're a stranger in town."
This question the companion answers. "Yeah, a stranger. A stranger. That's what I am, all right. I'm a stranger, all right. You got me right."
Now the motionless one smiles. This makes his face look uncomfortable.
This makes it seem as if he had been frowning savagely before.
"What do you think of this town?" pursues the newspaper man.
"Think of this town? Think? Say, I ain't thinking. I don't think anything of it. I'm just looking at it, see? A stranger don't ever think, now, does he? There, that's one for you."