Only once does he so much as refer to them when at his own place, and then in the most general and suspicious way.

"Bah!" he exclaims to a friend; "there is Phil smoking these wretched musk-scented cigarettes again! they are only fit for Lady Georgie or Eulalie Papellori.

What taste, when there are my Havanas and cheroots!" The remark, in whatever way considered, is suggestive.

In the first place, it is made late in the evening, after Strathmore and his friend have left the smoking-room.

Thus it is a safe observation.