"Yes," replied Paul. This tramp had points at which he differed from other tramps, and Paul stared at him thoughtfully.
"So far, so good," said the stranger. "Question number two: does it run to a meal for a gentleman on his travels, an' a bed of sorts? Answer me that. I don't mean a meal with a shilling to pay at the end of it, because--to give it you straight--I 'm out of shillings for the present. Now, speak up."
"If you go up there, they 'll give you something to eat, and you can sleep somewhere," said Paul, a little puzzled by the unusual rhetoric.
The stranger nodded approvingly. "It's all right, then?" he said. "Good--go up one. But say! Ain't you going there yourself pretty soon?"
"Then, if it 's all the same to you," said the stranger, "I 'll wait and go up with you. Nothing like being introduced by a member," he added, as he lowered himself stiffly to a seat among the rank grass under the wall. "Gives a feller standing, don't it?"
He took off his limp hat and let himself fall back against the slope of the wall, grunting with appreciation of the relief after a day's tramp in the sun. His rather full body and thin legs, ending in a pair of ruinous shoes that let his toes be seen, lay along the grass like an obscene corpse, and above them his feeble, sophisticated face leered at Paul as though to invite him to become its confidant.
"You go on with what you 're doing," urged the stranger. "Don't let me hinder you. Makin' marbles, were you--or what?"
"No," said Paul. He hesitated, for an idea had come to him while he watched the stranger. "But--but if you 'll do something for me, I 'll give you a shilling."
"Eh?" The other rolled a dull eye on him. "It isn't murder, is it? I should want one-and-six for that. I never take less."
Paul flushed. "I don't know what you mean," he said. "I only want you to keep still like that while I--while I make a model of you. You said you had n't got any shillings just now."
"Did I say that?" inquired the stranger. "Well, well! However, chuck us over your shilling and I 'll see what I can do for you."
He made a show of biting the coin and subjecting it to other tests of its goodness while the boy looked on anxiously. Paul was relieved when at last he pocketed it and lay back again.