"Well," Dan exclaimed, when they had exhausted their conjectures, "they've set their date and I reckon they won't change it, so I'm going to eat dinner to-night at the Red Wing Club as usual, just to see what happens."
After a brief hesitation Norvin said, "I'd like to join you, if you don't mind."
Donnelly shook his gray head doubtfully. "I don't think you'd better.
This may be on the square."
"I think it is, and therefore I intend to see you through."
"Suit yourself, of course. I'd like to have you go along, but I don't want to get you into any fuss."
Seven o'clock that evening found the two friends dining at the little cafe in the foreign quarter, but they were seated at one of the corner tables and their backs were toward the wall.
"I've had my reasons for eating here, and it wasn't altogether the coffee, either," the elder man confessed.
"I suspected as much," Norvin told him. "At least I couldn't detect anything remarkable about this Rio."
"You see, it's a favorite hang-out of the better Italian class, and
I've been working it carefully for a year."
"What have you discovered?"