And
if I was you, pardner, and had a real hankering for grub I'd mosey
right along in there while there's something left." His eye roved to
the bottle on the chimneypiece and dropped to the fire. "I'll trail
you in a minute."
Here was invitation sufficient, and Packard rose swiftly, went out
through the door at the end of the room, passed through an untidy
chamber which no doubt had been intended originally as a dining-room,
and so came into lamplight again and the presence of Miss Blue Cloak.
He made her a bow and smiled in upon her cheerfully. She, perched on
an oilcloth-covered table, her booted feet swinging, a thick sandwich
in one hand and a steaming cup of coffee in the other, took time to
look him up and down seriously and to swallow before she answered his
bow with a quick, bird-like nod.
"Don't mind me," she said briefly, having swallowed again. "Dig in and
help yourself."
On the table beside her were bread, butter, a very dry and
black-looking roast, and a blacker but more tempting coffee-pot.
"I didn't follow you on purpose," said Packard. "Back there where the
roads forked I saw that you had turned to the left, so I turned to the
right."
"All roads lead to Rome," she said around the corner of the big
sandwich. "Anyway, it's all right. I guess I owe you a square meal
and a night's lodging for being on the job when my car stalled.
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