We were waked up by the telephone-bell and got dressed and went down to breakfast.
“Now what?” says I.
“Wholesale houses first,” says he.
Neither of us knew anything about the city, so we had to ask our way, but we didn’t get lost. It was quite a walk to the first place we wanted—Spillane & Company—and when we got there it wasn’t open yet. We sat down in the doorway to wait.
After a while an old gentleman came along in an electric automobile and got out and came up to the door. We moved over to let him through.
“Early birds, aren’t you?” says he, sort of squinting at us under his gray eyebrows.
“Yes,” says Mark, “but the w-w-worm hasn’t come yet.”
“Who’s the worm?” says he.
“Spillane & Company,” says Mark.
The old gentleman kept on squinting at us under those eyebrows without ever the sign of a smile.