And once more, when he tried to eat his breakfast, his appetite completely failed him! This personal experience of the new hotel was too extraordinary to be passed over in silence.

Henry mentioned it to his friends in the public room, in the hearing of the manager.

The manager, naturally zealous in defence of the hotel, was a little hurt at the implied reflection cast on Number Fourteen.

He invited the travellers present to judge for themselves whether Mr.Westwick's bedroom was to blame for Mr.Westwick's sleepless nights; and he especially appealed to a grey-headed gentleman, a guest at the breakfast-table of an English traveller, to take the lead in the investigation.

'This is Doctor Bruno, our first physician in Venice,' he explained.