Indeed, the hotel proprietor might have confounded them together, and,
perhaps, Van Loo was not far wrong in his belief that their identity had
not been suspected. Nor were Steptoe's followers very much concerned in
an episode in which they had taken part only at the suggestion of their
leader, and which had terminated so tamely. That they would have liked
a "row," in which Jack Hamlin would have been incidentally forced to
disgorge his winnings, there was no doubt, but that their interference
was asked solely to gratify some personal spite of Steptoe's against Van
Loo was equally plain to them. There was some grumbling and outspoken
criticism of his methods.
This was later made more obvious by the arrival of another guest for
whom Steptoe and his party were evidently waiting. He was a short, stout
man, whose heavy red beard was trimmed a little more carefully than when
he was first known to Steptoe as Alky Hall, the drunkard of Heavy Tree
Hill. His dress, too, exhibited a marked improvement in quality and
style, although still characterized in the waist and chest by the
unbuttoned freedom of portly and slovenly middle age. Civilization had
restricted his potations or limited them to certain festivals known as
"sprees," and his face was less puffy and sodden. But with the accession
of sobriety he had lost his good humor, and had the irritability and
intolerance of virtuous restraint.
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