Tom was certain of it; and before entering his room, he waited until Nancy's party had disappeared around the corner. He then opened the door and, going over to a man who was ruminating vacantly upon a huge chunk of bread, sat down. "There's going to be some sort of lecture here, today, isn't there?" he asked.
"I dunno," replied the man.
"Yeah, there is," spoke up a hand nearby. "I seen it on a sign this morning. Some guy from the college."
"That's what I thought," said Tom. "I thought I'd just come in and see what he had to say. Can't stay very long, though," he added, looking at his watch. Then after a pause, "Pretty nice place you got here."
"Oh, it's good enough, I guess."
The room was a large one, filled with three or four dozen tables bearing complicated-looking machinery. There were twenty or thirty men sitting around solemnly chewing their food.
"Pretty slow now, isn't it?" asked Tom.
"Yeah, they laid off about a hundred last week."
"This laying-off stuff would have gone bigger a couple of years ago—in the army—wouldn't it?"
"I'll say it would."