It was a door that needed painting, and there was a conspicuous card in the ground-floor window.

Langholm tugged twice in his impatience at the old-fashioned bell.

If his face had been alight before, it was now on fire, for by deliberate steps he had arrived at the very conclusion to which he had been inclined to jump.

At last came a slut of the imperishable lodging-house type.
"Is your mistress in ?" "No." "When do you expect her ?" "Not before night." "Any idea what time of night ?" The untidy child had none, but at length admitted that she had orders to keep the fire in for the landlady's supper.

Langholm drew his own deduction.