"A contrast in manners, was it not, gentlemen?" asked Godfrey,
looking about him. "Didn't you blush for America?"

The men laughed, for they knew he was after Grady, and yet it was
evident enough that they agreed with him.

"Come on, Lester," he added; "we might as well be getting back. I can
send the boat down again after the other boys," and he turned down
the stair.




CHAPTER XXIV

THE SECRET OF THE CABINET


Godfrey bade me good-bye at the dock and hastened away to the office
to write his story, which, I could guess, would be concerned with the
manners of Americans, especially with Grady's. As for me, that whiff
of salt air had put an unaccustomed edge to my appetite, and I took a
cab to Murray's, deciding to spend the remainder of the evening
there, over a good dinner. Except in a certain mood, Murray's does
not appeal to me; the pseudo-Grecian temple in the corner, with water
cascading down its steps, the make-believe clouds which float across
the ceiling, the tables of glass lighted from beneath--all this,
ordinarily, seems trivial and banal; but occasionally, in an esoteric
mood, I like Murray's, and can even find something picturesque and