“Which are the Doctor’s favorite dishes?” John asked him.
“Hi really couldn’t say, sir.” The waiter’s tone was full of mild reproach. “The lark-pie his our special dish, sir, and the stewed cheese his hexcellent heatin’ and a general favorite.”
“Then we’ll have those, shan’t we, girls?” asked John. “And bring enough for Dr. Johnson, in case he should look in,” he added gravely, and the waiter went off, shaking his head and murmuring something about “those mad Hamericans.”
“I want to sit in Dr. Johnson’s chair,” complained Babbie, when he had gone. “There’s no sense in saving a place for a ghost, John. Don’t you know that they can sit where there is somebody just as well as where there isn’t?”
“That may be,” admitted John. “But I consider that it’s more respectful. Speaking of ghosts, is that the ghost of Billy Benson that I see before me, or is it Billy in person?”
John tumbled his chair over in his eagerness to get to the door and wring the hand of a tall, broad-shouldered youth, who seemed just as delighted to see John as John was to see him. He had a friend with him, whom John evidently did not know, for presently Billy remembered him and summarily pulled him forward to be introduced. Then the three came over to the girls’ table.
“May I present Mr. William Benson?” John began. “Best fellow in the world, Billy is. Rooms in my hall at Harvard. And this is Mr. Trevelyan, a friend of Billy’s.”
Mr. Trevelyan was several years older than John or Billy. He was tall, dark, and slender, with a distinguished manner, queer, near-sighted gray eyes that were slightly out of focus, making it hard to tell just where he was looking, and a very peculiar way of speaking—it was difficult to decide whether he had a slight foreign accent or an impediment in his speech.
“You fellows will join us, won’t you?” asked John hospitably. “Mr. Trevelyan, you can have Dr. Johnson’s seat, and Billy, you can be Boswell and squeeze in somewhere, I’m sure.”
But Mr. Trevelyan demurred politely. “You have found friends,” he told Billy. “I insist that you let me withdraw.”