“You'll see him in about five minutes.”
If the news was a surprise Gregory gave no evidence of it, except to comment:
“You're a capable person, aren't you? I'll bet you could tune a piano if you were put to it.”
He carried the situation well, the reporter had to admit; the only evidence he gave of strain was that the hands with which he lighted a cigarette were unsteady. He surveyed the obscure hotel at which the cab stopped with a sneering smile, and settled his collar as he looked it over.
“Not advertising to the world that you're in town, I see.”
“We'll do that, just as soon as we're ready. Don't worry.”
The laugh he gave at that struck unpleasantly on Bassett's ears. But inside the building he lost some of his jauntiness. “Queer place to find Judson Clark,” he said once.
And again:
“You'd better watch him when I go in. He may bite me.”
To which Bassett grimly returned: “He's probably rather particular what he bites.”