“The dickens!”
Now the stranger was astonished. He slowly extracted a cigar from the case and lighted it, all the while staring at Merry.
“And you went to Yale College!” he exclaimed. “Didn’t drink—didn’t smoke! And you were popular!”
“It can’t be that you knew very much about me, or you would have been aware that I neither drank nor smoked. You have the advantage of me in——”
The stranger broke into a jolly laugh.
“Of course I have. You had so many friends. I didn’t expect you to remember me. Never mind. Come down to the cardroom.”
“Don’t play cards.”
“What—again! Never did?”
“I have.”
“Oh! A relief! Then you have had one vice! Ha! ha! Don’t mind my jollying, old fellow. You’re a rare bird. Come down to the cardroom anyway. I want to talk to you where there won’t be so many rubbernecks around.”