"Then come back to the hotel with me."
"You are a foreigner, aren't you?" asked Jack, surveying the stranger coolly.
"I am German," replied Radberg, in a tone of surprise.
"I thought so," nodded the boy. "That is, I didn't know from what country you came. But, in this country, when we ask a favor of a stranger, we usually say 'please.'"
"I am Herr Professor—"
"Oh, barbers are just as polite as other folks," Jack assured him, his laughing eyes resting on the somewhat bewildered-looking face of the German.
"Then please, Herr Benson, come back to the hotel with me."
"Yes; if it's really necessary. But why do you want to go to the hotel?"
"Because, Herr Benson, when we are there, I shall have much of importance to say to you."
"Important to me, or to you?" asked Jack, thoughtfully.