In spite of his deformity, he was the best-dressed man in the house--they were all smart men there, but none of them came up to him in the way of clothes, linen, and personal adornment, always in the best and most cultured taste.

Also it was easy to gather that he was a young man of large means.

Although he made full use of the public rooms, and was always in and about them of an evening, from dinner-time to a late hour, he tenanted a private suite of apartments in the hotel--those residents, few in number, who had been privileged to obtain entrance to them spoke with almost awed admiration of their occupant's books, pictures, and objects of art.

Mr.Gerald Rayner, it was evident, was a man of culture--that, indeed, was shown by his conversation.

And at first Appleyard had set him down as a poet, or an artist, or a writing man of some sort--a dilettante who possessed private means.