oor of one of these
half villas, and an inspiration came upon him.

"One can always visit a doctor," he said to himself, and smiled in great
amusement at something in the reflection.

He stopped the cab, handed the man half a sovereign, and saying only,
"Drive away again, quickly," jumped out, glanced at the name on the plate,
and pulled the bell. As he waited on the step he saw the other cab stop a
little way back, and his pursuer emerge.

A frowsy little servant opened the door.

"Is Dr Twiddel at home?" he asked.

"Dr Twiddel's abroad, sir," said the maid.

"No one in at all, then?"

"Dr Billson sees 'is patients, sir--w'en there _his_ any."

"When do you expect Dr Billson?"

"In about an hour, sir, 'e usually comes hin."

"Excellent!" thought Mr Bunker. Aloud he said, "Well, I'm a patient. I'll
come in and wait."

He stepped in, and the door banged behind him.

CHAPTER VIII.

"This w'y, sir," said the maid, and Mr Bunker found himself in the little
room where this story opened.

The moment he was alone he went to the window and peeped cautiously
between the slats of the venetian blind.

The street was quiet, both cabs had disappeared, and for a minute or two
he could see nothing even of Moggridge. Then a figure moved carefully from
the shelter of a bush a little way down the railings, and, after a quick
look at the house, stepped back again.

"He means to play the waiting game," said Mr Bunker to himself. "Long may
you wait, my wary Moggridge!"

He took a rapid survey of the room. He saw the medical library, the rented
furniture, and the unlit gas-stove; and at last his eye fell upon a box of
cigarettes. To one of these he helped himself and leaned his back against
the mantelpiece.

"There must be at least one room at the back," he reflected; "that room
must have a window, and beyond that window there is all London to turn to.
Friend Moggridge, I trust you are prepared to spend the evening behind
your bush."

He had another look through the blind and shook his head.

"A little too light yet,--I'd better wait for a quarter of an hour or so."

To while away the time he proceeded to make a tour of the room, for, as he
said to himself, when in an unknown country any information may possibly
come in useful. There was nothing whatever from which he could draw even
the most superficial deduction till he came to the writing-desk. Here a
heap of bills were tran