"Turned me out? I couldn't pay for my dinner."
"Had you eat it?"
"No. I wish now I had."
"I believe you. Whe—ew! Just to eat once at the Waldorf!"
"I had lunch there," said Val, beginning to be a little warmer, because he was amused.
"Bet it was bully."
"I wasn't hungry—then."
"Pity! Still," the man at the other end of the bench murmured reflectively, "you've got it to remember, and I guess a lot of other nice things."
"If that were any comfort!"
"'Twould be to me. Say, I don't throw myself out much to strangers, but you saved my dog for me, while I was snoozin' like a sick dormouse, and there's somethin' about you kind o' gets me. Suppose we swop stories,—if you really ain't on in this act. If you're not kiddin'—playin' some game—if you're here because you're stumped, why maybe I might put you up to somethin'—see? Wasn't there a verse in the Bible about a lion and a mouse?"