The room to which he was shown was very ordinary, and made little impression upon him. He threw his bag to the bed and seated himself easily beside it.
The landlady lingered by the door, and he ventured a remark to her:
“I suppose you let quite a number of rooms?”
“It would be,” she answered, “a bad thing for us if we didn’t.”
As there appeared to be nothing further to contribute to that line of inquiry, he nodded and remained silent.
“You’ll want a bit of dinner, I suppose.”
“Oh, yes, thank you—thanks.”
“If you was to order it now it would be ready when you come down.”
“All right,” he said. Then, as she still lingered: “I think I’ll wash my hands if you don’t mind.”
“What’ll you have to eat?”