“Look at him sporting along with a cigar in his mouth—one of Burke’s cigars!”
The boys parallelled the oddly assorted pair some distance, and it could readily be seen that Burke was doing his best to win the old man’s confidence, and that the latter already was much impressed with the attention and deference shown him by the well-dressed agent.
“If we could get the old man alone,” said Alex.
“Not much chance, I am afraid. Now that he has him in hand, Burke probably won’t lose sight of him until he has closed his bargain. Remember what he said just before we left the train, about giving the old chap a good time to-night, and putting him up at one of the hotels.”
Alex halted. “Give him a good time! Say, Jack, why shouldn’t he give him a good time at the Girls’ Club entertainment to-night? And then why shouldn’t we—”
Jack uttered a shout, and struck Alex enthusiastically on the back. “Al, you’ve hit it! You’ve hit it! Bully!
“Here! Give me those complimentary tickets Kate gave us, and I’ll go right after them, before they make any other arrangements. You wait.”
Jack was running across the street in a moment, and drawing up alongside the two men, he addressed them both. “Excuse me, Mr. Potter, Mr. Burke—but wouldn’t you like to take in our Girls’ Club entertainment to-night? It’s going to be really quite good—good music, and fun, and a bit of tea social in between.
“I’m sure you would enjoy it,” he declared, addressing himself to the older man. “One of the features of the program is a chap who claims he can read people’s thoughts. Of course nobody thinks he can, but he will make lots of fun.”
The old man smiled, and looked at his companion.