But that is the kind of mistress that London is to those who have once felt her spell; you may forget her by the year, but the spell lies lurking in the first whiff of the wood pavement, the first flutter of the evening paper on the curb; and even in the cab you wonder how you have borne existence elsewhere.
The hotel was very empty, and Langholm found not only the best of rooms at his disposal, but that flattering quality of attention which awaits the first comer when few come at all.

He refreshed himself with tea and a bath, and then set out to reconnoitre the scene of the already half-forgotten murder.

He had a vague though sanguine notion that his imaginative intuition might at once perceive some possibility which had never dawned upon the academic intelligence of the police.
Of course he remembered the name of the street, and it was easily found.

Nor had Langholm any difficulty in discovering the house, though he had forgotten the number.

There were very few houses in the street, and only one of them was empty and to let.