"
"All right," says Mr. Jay. "I'll get back in time to see him."
Upon this, the suspicious-looking young man finished his porter,
and saying that he was rather in a hurry, took leave of his
friend (perhaps I should not be wrong if I said his accomplice?),
and left the room.
At twenty-five minutes and a half past six--in these serious
cases it is important to be particular about time--Mr. Jay
finished his chops and paid his bill. At twenty-six minutes and
three-quarters I finished my chops and paid mine. In ten minutes
more I was inside the house in Rutherford Street, and was
received by Mrs. Yatman in the passage. That charming woman's
face exhibited an expression of melancholy and disappointment
which it quite grieved me to see.
"I am afraid, ma'am," says I, "that you have not hit on any
little criminating discovery in the lodger's room?"
She shook her head and sighed. It was a soft, languid, fluttering
sigh--and, upon my life, it quite upset me. For the moment I
forgot business, and burned with envy of Mr. Yatman.
"Don't despair, ma'am," I said, with an insinuating mildness
which seemed to touch her. "I have heard a mysterious
conversation--I know of a guilty appointment--and I expect great
things from my peep-hole and my pipe-hole to-night.
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