"A bitter night," said he. "A bitter, raw night. It's very fortunate that one has a place like this to depend upon when affairs draw one so far from the city."
"It is so," said Anthony.
"A fine, generous place," said the man appreciatively. "Good food and drink, clean beds. Comfortable surroundings. A traveler should give thanks for gifts as good as these."
"Especially as the place is so unexpected," said Anthony.
Again the man smirked. He rubbed his hands together over the fire; there was something furtive in the way he did this, as though he were filching the warmth, and getting pleasure out of the fact that no one noticed it.
"The inn is curiously located," said he. "Very curiously. I've spoken of it more than once. But, then, shipmen are a fine-hearted lot, and when they come up from the sea they want comfort ashore. And who will blame them?"
"Not I," said Anthony.
There was a little pause; then the man spoke again.
"You are connected with shipping, I'd say."
"Yes."