After the first drink he calls his new friend by his surname; after the second drink it is "Arthur" or "John" or "Henry," as the case may be; then it dwindles into "Art" or "Jack" or "Hank." No one ever objects to this progressive familiarity.
The stranger finds the character rather amusing.

The character is usually a harmless parasite, and his one ambition is to get a political job such as entails no work.

He is always pulling wires, as they say; but those at the other end are not sensitive to the touch.
On dull days he loiters around the police court and looks mysterious.
Cub reporters at first glance believe him to be a detective in disguise.
Herculaneum had its character.

He was a pompous little man to whom the inelegant applied the term of runt.

He never could have passed the army examination, for he had no instep.