The expressman set down her bags and left Carley standing there.

The clerk or proprietor was talking from behind his desk to several men, and there were loungers in the lobby.

The air was thick with tobacco smoke.

No one paid any attention to Carley until at length she stepped up to the desk and interrupted the conversation there.
"Is this a hotel ?" she queried, brusquely.
The shirt-sleeved individual leisurely turned and replied, "Yes, ma'am." And Carley said: "No one would recognize it by the courtesy shown.

I have been standing here waiting to register." With the same leisurely case and a cool, laconic stare the clerk turned the book toward her.