As he said nothing, I continued encouragingly:-- "Because a man's a waiter, it doesn't follow that he's always been one, or always will be." "No," said Tom, abstractedly; "but it's about as good as anything else to lie low and wait on." But here two customers entered, and he turned to them, leaving me in doubt whether to accept this as a verbal pleasantry or an admission.

Only one thing seemed plain: I had certainly gained no information, and only added a darker mystery to his conference with Manners, which I determined I should ask Manners to explain.
I finished my meal in solitude.

The rain was still beating drearily against the windows with an occasional accession of impulse that seemed like human impatience.

Vague figures under dripping umbrellas, that hid their faces as if in premeditated disguise, hurried from the main thoroughfare.

A woman in a hooded waterproof like a domino, a Mexican in a black serape, might have been stage conspirators hastening to a rendezvous.