He evidently looked fatherly, no matter how he felt.

Hang these fifty-two years, to come crowding his doorstep all at once! He raised his head and laughed.

He suddenly remembered now.

At nine that night he had been scheduled to deliver a lecture on the Italo-Jugoslav muddle before a distinguished audience in the ballroom of a famous hotel! He would have some fancy apologizing to do in the morning.
He stepped into a doorway, then peered out cautiously.

There was not a single pedestrian in sight.