"Thank you. I will reward you, if I have the means."
CHAPTER XXXII.
A Strange Meeting.
The Hotel de la Couronne is situated in one of the finest parts of Lyons. As Ben stood before it, he began to doubt whether he had not better go away with his errand undone. After all, this American gentleman, if there were one in the hotel, would be likely to feel very little interest in a destitute boy claiming to be a fellow-countryman. He might even look upon him as a designing rogue, with a fictitious story of misfortune, practising upon his credulity. Ben's cheek flushed at the mere thought that he might be so regarded.
So he was on the point of going away; but he was nerved by his very desperation to carry out his original plan.
He entered the hotel, and went up to the office.
"Will monsieur look at some apartments?" asked the landlord's son, a man of thirty.
"No, monsieur—that is, not at present. Is there an American gentleman at present staying in the hotel?"