"Friend," said I, "I see that you are bent on gaining the feathered fowl. In other words, if I'm kept waiting much longer you'll get the bird."
"I don't think," he replied somewhat uneasily.
"That," said I, "is what I complain of."
I seated myself on a table and lighted a cigarette. Then:
"I wonder how he'll like his new place," I said, apostrophizing the skylight.
A pause. Then:
"Of corse, the guv'nor might be in," said the youth. "Yer never knows."
"Speak for yourself," said I. "At the same time, you appear to be doing what you conceive to be your duty. And for those who do their duty, there is always a shilling in the left-hand trouser-pocket—"
But the boy was half-way upstairs. I had proved my identity.
Five minutes later one of the partners was conducting me in the direction of the baths.