He would paralyze him at one fell blow, little dreaming that the other read his glance and knew the exact mental process of his reasoning.
"There is a good suite vacant on the first floor, but it contains a dressing room and bath room," he said, smiling the smile of a very knowing person.
"That sounds all right. I will take it."
"Ah, yes. It costs five pounds a day!"
Each of the six words in that portentous sentence contained a note of admiration that swelled out into a magnificent crescendo. It was a verbal avalanche, beneath which this queer youth should be crushed into the very dust.
"Five pounds a day!" observed Philip, calmly. "I suppose there would be a reduction if taken for a month?"
"Well—er—during the season it is not—er—usual to——"
"Oh, very well. I can easily arrange for a permanency later if I think fit. What number is the suite, please, and will you kindly have my luggage sent there at once?"
The clerk was demoralized, but he managed to say:
"Do you quite understand the terms—thirty-five pounds a week!"