The hotel appeared to be entirely deserted.

The waiter had left the coffee room, and gone to visit a friend in the police barrack.

The barmaid, after finishing one penny novel, had gone into the shop next door to borrow another from the milliner.

Meldon penetrated to the kitchen, and found an untidy maid asleep, very uncomfortably, on an upright chair.

She woke with a start when he banged a frying-pan against the front of the oven.
"I hope I haven't startled you," he said politely.