Page:Christopher Morley--Tales from a rolltop desk.djvu/156

I bought my commutation, and we stood in the shabby old courtyard for a few minutes watching the crowd stream in. A good many, I noticed, though unable to find seats, still took advantage of the opening-day offer and bought the hundred meal tickets for future consumption.

"The only drawback about this place is the crowd," I said. "If this keeps up, half of down-town New York will be eating here."

"Look here," said Dove, "I think I shall be down this way again to-morrow. It's my turn to buy. Will you lunch with me then? We'll celebrate the jovial Yule together."

"Fine," I said. "Meet you at the old red newspaper-box at the corner of Broadway and Vesey to-morrow at 12 o'clock."

We were both there punctually.

"Have you got your appetite with you?" asked Dove. "It's a bit early for feasting, but it'll give us time for a stroll after lunch."

"Where do we eat?" I said. "Commutation again? It's all velvet to me, anyway, all my lunches are paid for for the next three months."

"There's a little place on Beekman Street I used to know," he said. "Let's try that."

We found a corner table in an odd old eating