The fellow began to smirk in reply. "New waiter, sir--only came this afternoon, sir!"
"I had no notion that Mrs. Barnes contemplated making such an addition to her establishment."
"No, sir; perhaps not, sir. Business is very slack just now, but the season is coming on, and the house will very soon be full."
This was emphatically a lie. So far from the season just coming on, in an hotel-keeper's sense, it was rapidly drawing to an end; and so far as Mrs. Barnes was personally concerned, apparently a bitter one, too. What she wanted, circumstanced as she was, with such a gorgeous individual as this about the place, or what she could find for him to do, surpassed my comprehension.
The fellow bustled about the room, pretending to busy himself, in accordance with a trick of his trade, with nothing at all.
"Been here long, sir?"
"You know very well how long I have been here."
"Beg pardon, sir, how's that?"
"You have read it in the papers. Don't feign ignorance with me, my man."
The fellow turned away. He was industriously polishing an already spotless glass.