“’Yes, got a lot of them, but I was short of a ticket.’

“Here the Large Man got up and went over to the Man from Boston.

“‘Shake for Boston,’ he said, holding out his big hand.  ’And now bring that bottle over here and chip in with us.’  Then he opened his pocketbook and took out a square slip of paper.

“‘Here, tuck that in your clothes.’  Again I must remark, gentlemen, that I am only quoting their language so that you can get a better idea of what sort of people I was with.  ’That’s a pass to your ‘burg.  I’m going South and I won’t use it.’

“There were five of us at the table now, the Bostonian bringing over his plate without a word except ‘Thank you,’ and taking his share of the different dishes.

“The talk now became very interesting.  The Large Man told stories of his early life on a farm and the Bostonian recited verses, and recited them very well, and the Woman laughed in the right place, and when the cigars were brought and the coffee and the cognac, I was sorry it was all over.  That, when I look back upon it, is the most extraordinary thing of all.  How a man of my experience could have—­ Well, I won’t stop, I’ll just keep on.

“With the coffee, and before the red-headed Irishman had brought the bill—­oh, you should go round to Foscari’s and look at that Irishman just to see how coarse and vulgar a man can be who spends his whole life feeding animals who—­no I will go on, for the most interesting part is to come.  When the coffee was served, I say, the Large Man asked the waiter where he could send a telephone message to his hotel —­wanted the porter to get his trunks down.  The Irishman answered:  ’Out in the hall, to the right o’ where ye come in.’  ‘I’ll go with you,’ said the Woman; so the two got up and I opened the door for her, and we three sat down again—­that is, the Small Man, the Bostonian and myself.

“We talked on, not noticing the time; then the Small Man looked at his watch, jumped up and called out to the waiter:  ’Where did you say that telephone place was?’

“’In the hall—­on the other side of that dure; ye kin see it from where ye’re sittin’.’

“’Well, he’s taking a devil of a time to do his telephoning’ said the Small Man.  ’Hold on to my coffee till I go and punch him up.’

“The Bostonian and I kept on talking.  He was a draughtsman in an architect’s office, so he told me, and was promised a place the following week, and I was very much interested in what he told me of his walking the streets looking for work.

“Mike, the waiter, now laid the bill on the table.  I didn’t want to know the amount; my hosts wouldn’t want me to see it, of course, and so I didn’t look at it.  The Bostonian craned his head, but I forestalled his glance and turned a plate over it before he could read the total.

“Mike now approached.

“‘Ye’d better pay now,’ he said, ’before any more o’ ye skip.  It’s nine dollars and sixty cints.’