Page:Jane Mander--The Strange Attraction.pdf/17

 had his conventional time of knocking around away from his home associations, had returned in the conventional manner to settle down to his life-work.

The main difference between these two was that you looked at Bob and dogmatized, and you looked at Valerie and wondered.

After her glance about the wharf Valerie brought her eyes back to his face.

“Where am I to stay?” she asked.

“Mac’s pub,” he grinned.

“Oh, Lord! Beer and flies.” She made a comical grimace. “Then there’s nothing else?”

“No. We have tried everything. Nobody has any room, and you’d hate boarding with anyone here anyway. Mac’s is all right, clean as pubs go, and the food is jolly decent, on the whole.”

“Any other women stay there?”

“No.”

“Thank God for that.”

“Mac refused to take you at first. You see he can fill up most of the time with men who spend a lot at the bar, and women don’t pay. And then, well, the pub is a bit lively sometimes. However, the committee spends a lot there, and Benton fixed it. So you are on trial. Whatever happens you must not complain about anything.”

“Dash it all, Bob, did you ever hear me complain about anything?”

A broad grin spread over his face.

“Oh, yes, you’ve heard me complain about hosts of things, fusty old ideas, the cowardly virtues, etc., oh, yes.