Winter was an adept in ferreting out facts concerning these localities and their denizens.

To Winter the inquiry must be left.
He stopped at the further end of the street, lit a cigar, and walked back.
He had again passed No.

37, giving a casual glance to the second floor front window, in which a light illumined the blind, when he became aware that a man was approaching from the Kennington Park Road.

Otherwise the street was empty.
The lamp opposite No.

37 did not throw its beams far into the gloom, but the advancing figure instantly enlisted Brett's attention.
The man was tall and strongly built.