"Come on in and get ready for dinner, then. Father is restless this evening. I think this damp weather is affecting him. It seems like he always breathes harder when the weather is damp."
The evening meal passed in silence except that John Hinds, Mrs. Watson's father, who was a consumptive, talked about the damp atmosphere and its unpleasant effects on his breathing apparatus and expressed thanks that there were but few damp days in Arizona. Watson answered his father-in-law in an absent-minded way. Mrs. Watson was worried because her husband could not eat, consequently she had no appetite.
After the meal was over John Hinds went into the living room, leaving Watson and his wife alone in the dining room. An hour later when Watson left the house his wife's eyes were red with crying. "It's awful," she said, "but I suppose it must be done."
When he reached the mine office he found King waiting for him at the door.
"Waiting for me! Am I late?"
"I think I am a little ahead of time.
"It's a little damp and chilly," Harold remarked, when they had entered the office and he had removed his top coat.
"Yes, and damp weather is rather unusual in this country."
"So I have been told."
The bookkeeper took a seat at his desk and Harold King seated himself opposite.