Within two minutes his taxi set him down at the Grantham; and knowing that whatever risks he ran would be lessened by his acting swiftly and without any suspicious hesitation, he walked straight in and to the elevators, in the manner of one having business there, his collar again pulled up, his cap pulled down, and his face just then covered with a handkerchief which was caring for a sniffling nose in a highly natural manner.
With his heart pounding he got without mishap to the doors numbered 1141, 1142, and 1143.

Instinctively he knew in a general way what the apartment was like: a set of rooms of various character which the hotel could rent singly or throw together and rent en suite.

But which of the three was the main entrance?
He dared not hesitate, for the slightest queer action might get the attention of the floor clerk down the corridor.

So Larry chose the happy medium and pressed the mother-of-pearl button of 1142.
The door opened, and before Larry stood a large, elderly, imposing woman in a rigidly formal evening gown--a gown which, by the way, had been part of Miss Grierson's equipment for many a year for helping raw young things master the art of being ladies.

Larry surmised at once that this was the "hired companion" his grandmother had spoken of.