He had just seen Lawson walking down the street, too, so he was quite sure of having the premises to himself.

Slipping off his shoes he stepped into the room and began to look about him with an appreciative air.

He handled some of Noel's choicest books, and looked through a portfolio of rare engravings but neither books nor engravings were quite in Dove's way, and after a time he strolled over to the mantel-piece, as he said, to see how he looked reflected in the over-mantel glass.
There were letters there directed to Noel.

Dove would have dearly liked to acquaint himself with their contents, but he was a slow and deficient reader.

Some cigars lay in a little cigar-case at one end.
Dove, as a matter of course, and without weighing the question at all, slipped a couple into his pocket.