"Oh, yes," said Palmer easily. "I am in no special hurry for a room, but will take breakfast and go out for a walk."
It did occur to Mr. Palmer that the valise, containing as it did the bonds stolen from Mr. Carver in Elmira, should be carefully guarded. However, it would surely be as safe in the care of the hotel clerk of the Clifton as in any hotel room, and probably even safer. So he ate breakfast with an easy mind, and then, purchasing a cigar, took a walk along the road which presents the best views of the Falls.
Mr. Palmer felt very complacent.
"It is a blessing to gentlemen in my profession," he soliloquized, "that Canada is so conveniently near. Here the minions of the law cannot touch us for any little indiscretion committed under the stars and stripes. I hear people talking of annexing Canada to the States, but to that I am unalterably opposed. I should have to retire from business, and I am not able to do that at present."
He was standing at a convenient point surveying the Falls, when he felt a light touch on his shoulder. Such was the force of habit that Mr. Palmer started violently, and turned round nervously.
It was a stout man with a smiling face that confronted him.
"Ha, Palmer!" said the new arrival. "Did you mistake me for——"
"How are you, Wellington? I am glad to see you."
"Instead of——"
"Oh, pshaw! A man naturally starts when he is tapped on the shoulder unexpectedly."