“Ash barrel back of lamp post Black horse Alley. If you are playing square go and set on it to-morrow morning 21st 10.22 not sooner not later wait till I come.”
The friends cogitated over the note profoundly. Presently the earl said:
“Don’t you reckon he’s afraid we are a sheriff with a requisition?”
“Why, m’lord?”
“Because that’s no place for a seance. Nothing friendly, nothing sociable about it. And at the same time, a body that wanted to know who was roosting on that ash-barrel without exposing himself by going near it, or seeming to be interested in it, could just stand on the street corner and take a glance down the alley and satisfy himself, don’t you see?”
“Yes, his idea is plain, now. He seems to be a man that can’t be candid and straightforward. He acts as if he thought we—shucks, I wish he had come out like a man and told us what hotel he—”
“Now you’ve struck it! you’ve struck it sure, Washington; he has told us.”
“Has he?”
“Yes, he has; but he didn’t mean to. That alley is a lonesome little pocket that runs along one side of the New Gadsby. That’s his hotel.”
“What makes’ you think that?”