"If you put it like that, Edward, I'm bound to come," he smiled.
Bateman reflected, moreover, that it would be as well to learn what he could about Arnold Jackson. It was plain that he had a great ascendency over Edward, and if it was to be combated it was necessary to discover in what exactly it consisted. The more he talked with Edward the more conscious he became that a change had taken place in him. He had an instinct that it behooved him to walk warily, and he made up his mind not to broach the real purport of his visit till he saw his way more clearly. He began to talk of one thing and another, of his journey and what he had achieved by it, of politics in Chicago, of this common friend and that, of their days together at college.
At last Edward said he must get back to his work and proposed that he should fetch Bateman at five so that they could drive out together to Arnold Jackson's house.
"By the way, I rather thought you'd be living at this hotel," said Bateman, as he strolled out of the garden with Edward. "I understand it's the only decent one here."
"Not I," laughed Edward. "It's a deal too grand for me. I rent a room just outside the town. It's cheap and clean."
"If I remember right those weren't the points that seemed most important to you when you lived in Chicago."
"Chicago!"
"I don't know what you mean by that, Edward. It's the greatest city in the world."
"I know," said Edward.
Bateman glanced at him quickly, but his face was inscrutable.