Rodney Paget had been a member for years. He liked the club because of its atmosphere of privacy. The only thing that made him uncomfortable was the occasional danger of being posted for back dues. That was an unpardonable crime, and Paget had barely escaped it at different times during his long period of membership.
In fact, the threat was hanging over him at the present time, and it worried him. For there were various reasons why Rodney Paget did not wish his name to become suddenly conspicuous.
Perhaps that was the reason why Paget did not realize a new habit that he had formed. It had become his procedure to enter the reading room immediately upon arriving at the club.
There were seldom many members present. Paget never gave a thought to them. Hence it became his daily procedure to go to the newspaper table and pick up the Morning Monitor — one of the oldest, most conservative of New York journals.
In it he studied each advertisement in a slow, careful manner, paying particular attention to the column headed, “Situations Wanted Male.” After that he folded the newspaper so that the front page appeared in view.
Each day when he performed this function, Paget left the table and leisurely inserted a cigarette in the long ivory holder.
On this particular day, it was late in the afternoon when Rodney Paget entered the Merrimac Club. He went directly to the reading room. His face bore an anxious expression, which was odd, for Paget’s demeanor was usually a pronounced calm.
The lateness of his arrival meant that he had been on an all-night party, for Paget always began his day by appearing at the Merrimac Club.
Paget, although careless in his hours, was not excessive in his indulgences. It was actual anxiety, not weariness, that controlled him this afternoon.
As he was turning the pages of the Morning Monitor, Paget started suddenly. A man was standing beside him. Paget recognized Walter Steuben, another club member. He laid the newspaper on the table and nodded.