The Regeneration of Jacobs
––––––––
* * * *
Even Luigi paused before their table on his way down the room, and looked from one to the other in some surprise.
“You are not very well this evening, Mr. Hambledon,” he said. “I am very sorry. And Mr. Jacobs, too. He is very thin. You must come here to dine more often. It is the grippe, yes! All my customers have the grippe. Soon there will be no one at all who comes to eat.”
The maître d’hôtel passed on to greet some newly arriving guests, and Hambledon and Jacobs exchanged quick glances.
“Do I really look bad, Hambledon?” Jacobs asked.
“Rotten!” Hambledon declared. “You look scared to death.”
“And I back you’ve lost a stone the last few months,” Jacobs declared, a little viciously. “I never saw a man gone off so.”
Hambledon’s white fi
