"Down State," said Merriam. That was both insolent and safe: Illinois is tolerably sizable.
"How old are you?"
Merriam saw an advantage in answering this query truthfully.
"Twenty-eight," he said. "What of it?"
"You don't happen to be a young nephew or cousin of Senator Norman's, do you?" asked Mr. Crockett, hitting the bull's-eye with his first arrow.
Merriam, somewhat startled, countered with a flat denial:
"No, I'm not. I've been told I look like him," he added. "Somebody took me for him last night. But I'm only related to him through Adam and Eve--so far as I know."
Mr. Crockett scanned him narrowly:
"Somebody took you for Norman last night?"
"They sure did." Having struck the slangy note by accident, Merriam was enough of an actor to keep it up.