He is constantly stopping in the middle of his conversation to "curl a loose leaf round his Manilla;" when one would have expected a hero like Strathmore to fling away a cigar when its leaves began to untwist, and light another.

So thrifty is Strathmore that he even laboriously "curls the leaves round his cigarettes"-- he does not so much as pretend that they are Egyptian; nay, even when quarrelling with Errol, his beloved friend (whom he shoots through the heart), he takes a cigarette from his mouth and "winds a loosened leaf" round it.
[Illustration] If Strathmore's Manillas were Capitan Generals they would cost him about 24s.

a hundred.

The probability, however, is that they were of inferior quality; say, 17s.6d.It need hardly be said that a good Manilla does not constantly require to have its leaves "curled." When Errol goes into the garden to smoke, he has every other minute to "strike a fusee;" from which it may be inferred that his cigar frequently goes out.

This is in itself suspicious.