"I think I shall stop over at Centerville," he said.
"Indeed! That is my destination."
"Do you live there?" asked Ben.
"No," said the other, laughing. "Do I look like it? I thought you would read 'New York' in my face and manner."
"I am not an experienced observer," said Ben modestly.
"Centerville has a prosperous future before it," said the stranger.
"Has it? I don't know much about the place. I never was there."
"You know, of course, that it is in the oil region?"
"I didn't even know that."
"A year ago," resumed the stranger, "it was a humdrum farming town, and not a very prosperous one either. The land is not of good quality, and the farmers found it hard work to get a poor living. Now all is changed."