There he would get affairs in as good order as might be, and
keep things going until he heard from the owner. When he reached his
hotel, he wrote a letter to Wentworth, detailing briefly the
circumstances under which he had secured the mine, and dealing with other
more personal matters. Having posted this, he began to pack his
portmanteau, preparatory to leaving early next morning. While thus
occupied, the bell-boy came into his room, and said:
'There is a gentleman wants to see you.'
He imagined at once that it was Von Brent, who wished to see him with
regard to some formality relating to the transfer, and he was, therefore,
very much astonished--in fact, for the moment speechless--when Mr.
William Longworth entered and calmly gazed round the rather shabby room
with his critical eyeglass.
'Ah,' he said, 'these are your diggings, are they? This is what they call
a dollar hotel, I suppose, over here. Well, some people may like it, but,
I confess, I don't care much about it, myself. Their three or four
dollars a day hotels are bad enough for me. By the way, you look rather
surprised to see me; being strangers together in a strange country, I
expected a warmer greeting. You said last night, in front of the Russell
House, that it would please you very much to give me a warm greeting;
perhaps you would like to do so to-night.'
'Have you come up here to provoke a quarrel with me?' asked Kenyon.
'Oh, bless you, no! Quarrel! Nothing of the sort.
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