"I'm real glad to meet you," he said.
Egbert gingerly took the proffered hand, moved it up and down once and then dropped it, after which he looked at his glove. Judah looked at it, too.
"Kind of chilly outdoor to-night, is it?" he asked. "Didn't seem so to me."
Again his lodger came to the rescue.
"Well, Mr. Phillips," he said, "you gave us all a little surprise, didn't you? Of course we expected you in a general sort of way, but we didn't know when you would make port."
Egbert bowed. "I scarcely knew myself," he said. "My plans were somewhat vague and—ah—rather hurriedly made, naturally. Of course my great sorrow, my bereavement——"
He paused, sighed and then brushed the subject away with a wave of his glove.
"You won't mind, I'm sure," he said, "if I don't dwell upon that just now. It is too recent, the shock is too great, I really cannot.... But I am so sorry to hear of your disability. A railway wreck, I understand. Outrageous carelessness, no doubt. Really, Captain Kendrick, one cannot find excuses for the reckless mismanagement of your American railways.... Why, what is it? Don't you agree with me?"
The captain had looked up momentarily. Now he was looking down again.
"Don't you agree with me?" repeated Egbert. "Surely you, of all people, should not excuse their recklessness."