“Is that an unusual thing in Mr. Sproatly’s case?” Agatha inquired.
“Yes,” said Mrs. Hastings. “It’s very unusual indeed. What is stranger still, he has taken the old grease-spotted band off his hat, after clinging to it affectionately for the last twelve months.”
Agatha thought that the soft hat, which fell shapelessly over part of Sproatly’s face, needed something to replace the discarded band; but in another moment he entered the room. He shook hands with them both.
“You are looking remarkably fresh, but appearances are not invariably to be depended on, and it’s advisable to keep the system up to par,” he said with a smile. “I suppose you don’t want a tonic of any kind?”
“I don’t,” declared Mrs. Hastings resolutely; “Allen doesn’t, either. Besides, didn’t you get into some trouble over that tonic?”
“It was the cough cure,” explained Sproatly with a grin. “I sold a man at Lander’s one of the large-sized bottles, and when he had taken some he felt a good deal better. Then he seems to have argued the thing out like this: if one dose had relieved the cough, a dozen should drive it out of him altogether, and he took the lot. He slept for forty-eight hours afterward, and when I came across him at the settlement he attacked me with a club. The fault, I may point out, was in his logic. Perhaps you would like some pictures. I’ve a rather striking oleograph of the Kaiser. It must be like him, for two of his subjects recognized it. One hung it up in his shanty; the other asked me to hold it out, and then pitched a stove billet through the middle of it. He, however, produced his dollar; he said he felt so much better after what he’d done that he didn’t grudge it.”
“I’m afraid we’re not worth powder and shot,” said Mrs. Hastings. “Do you ever remember our buying any tonics or pictures from you?”
“I don’t, though I have felt that you ought to have done it.” Sproatly, who paused a moment, turned towards Agatha with a little whimsical bow. “The professional badinage of an unlicensed dealer in patent medicines may now and then mercifully cover a good deal of embarrassment. Miss Ismay has brought something pleasantly characteristic of the Old Country along with her.”
His hostess disregarded the last remark. “Then if you didn’t expect to sell us anything, what did you come for?”
“For supper,” answered Sproatly cheerfully. “Besides that, to take Miss Rawlinson out for a drive. I told her last night it would afford me considerable pleasure to show her the prairie. We could go round by Lander’s and back.”