waiting.

"What can I do for you?" she inquired as the thunder ceased.

"We're caught in the storm and thought perhaps we might stay here
all night," suggested Fred.

"The house is pretty full," said the woman dubiously. "I don't
know whether I can give you rooms or not."

At that moment there came a burst of loud laughter from the
bar-room. It was plain that many of the men who were employed on
the canal also had sought shelter in the little tavern. The house
was old, so old that the boards in the floor were warped and the
low ceilings gave evidence of the many years that had passed
since they had been placed there. Not a door fitted its frame and
the windows were all small, the panes being not much more than
seven by nine. Whatever was done in one part of the house plainly
was likely to be known also in other parts. The noisy men, who
were drinking in the bar-room, whose shouts and songs and cries
now were even more distinctly heard, could not confine their loud
demonstrations to the room in which they had assembled even if
they had been so inclined.

"If you don't mind," suggested Fred to the landlady, "I think we
would like to go up to our rooms."

"Have you had any supper?" inquired the woman.

"Yes, we got some in Utica," replied Fred.