"Moderately."
"Not a regular walking newspaper—no?"
"Not exactly—"
"Then I'm afraid it's no use," he sighed.
I glanced up at his face, but it was inscrutable.
"You—you want a landlady who talks?" I gasped, incredulous.
"It's one of the rules," he said, again obscurely.
I could make nothing of him. And had I any right to introduce to Hetty Carpenter a guest who came without credentials and talked more or less like a lunatic at large?
"Mr. Duncan—" I began, uncomfortable.
"Don't say it," he anticipated me. "I know you think I'm crazy—but I'm not. You would think so, naturally, because you're the only man here who's ever lived away from Radville long enough—not counting those who went to the World's Fair—."