“Well,” says the stranger, “he’d be apt to be over to the Masonic Temple, but he hain’t, ’cause I just come from there.”
“Where does he usually stop?”
“Don’t usually stop at all. Jest comes and goes.”
Then he took to asking questions himself. “Friend of Hieronymous’s be you?”
“Of course. To be sure. He hasn’t two better friends.”
“Never heard him mention you,” says the stranger. “Lemme see. How long’s Hieronymous’s beard by now? Must be perty long, eh?”
“Never measured her exactly,” says Jiggins. “Long, though. Foot, maybe. Great beard. Don’t know when I ever saw a better one.”
“Umph!” says the lumberman. “Good friends of Hieronymous’s, eh? Perty intimate-like?”
“Well, not what you’d call intimate, maybe. But friends. Good friends.”
“See him lately? Must ’a’ seen him perty lately, eh?”