eign parts, sir, and is likely
to go out there again, so I gathered from what he said. It is a pity
there are not more like him."

This was news, indeed, and I pricked up my ears on hearing it.

Having learnt all I was likely to discover, I thanked the man for his
kindness and left the cemetery. If I had done nothing else, I had at
least satisfied myself upon one point, and this was the fact that
Gideon Hayle had been in London within the week. Under such
circumstances it should not be very difficult to obtain his address. But
I knew from experience that when things seemed to be running most
smoothly, they are as much liable to a breakdown as at any other
time--sometimes even more so. I accordingly hailed a cab and drove back
to my office. Once there I entered up my diary according to custom,
wrote a note to Kitwater, informing him that I had discovered that
Gideon Hayle had not left London on the previous Sunday, and also that I
believed him to have negotiated certain of the stones in London, after
which I returned to my hotel to dine.

Most people who know me would tell you that it might be considered
consistent with my character that I still occupied the same apartments
in the private hotel, off the Strand, in which I had domiciled myself
when I first arrived in England. If I am made comfortable I prefer to
stick to my quarters, and the hotel in question was a quiet one; the
cooking and the service were excellent, and, as every one did his, or
her, best for me, I saw no sort of reason for moving elsewhere. It is
something in such matters to know the people with whom one has to deal,
and in my case I could not have been better cared for had I been a
crowned head. I suppose I am a bit of a faddist in these things. Except
when business compels me to break through my rule, I rise at the same
hour every morning, breakfast, lunch, and dine at the same time, and as
far as possible retire to rest punctually at the usual moment. After
dinner in those days, things have changed since then somewhat. I
invariably smoked a cigar, and when the evening was fine, went for a
stroll, returning between nine and ten and retiring to rest, unless I
had anything to attend to, punctually at eleven. On this particular
occasion, the night being fine, though rather close, I lit my cigar in
the hall and stepped out into the street exactly as the clock was
striking eight. I had a lot to think of, and felt just in the humour for
a walk. London