He would be living in quite a different sort of way with some of his relatives, or with a friend of his own class.
There came a time when Mrs.Bunting, looking back--as even the least imaginative of us are apt to look back to any part of our own past lives which becomes for any reason poignantly memorable -- wondered how soon it was that she had discovered that her lodger was given to creeping out of the house at a time when almost all living things prefer to sleep.
She brought herself to believe--but I am inclined to doubt whether she was right in so believing--that the first time she became aware of this strange nocturnal habit of Mr.Sleuth's happened to be during the night which preceded the day on which she had observed a very curious circumstance.

This very curious circumstance was the complete disappearance of one of Mr.Sleuth's three suits of clothes.
It always passes my comprehension how people can remember, over any length of time, not every moment of certain happenings, for that is natural enough, but the day, the hour, the minute when these happenings took place! Much as she thought about it afterwards, even Mrs.Bunting never quite made up her mind whether it was during the fifth or the sixth night of Mr.Sleuth's stay under her roof that she became aware that he had gone out at two in the morning and had only come in at five.
But that there did come such a night is certain--as certain as is the fact that her discovery coincided with various occurrences which were destined to remain retrospectively memorable.
****** It was intensely dark, intensely quiet--the darkest quietest hour of the night, when suddenly Mrs.Bunting was awakened from a deep, dreamless sleep by sounds at once unexpected and familiar.

She knew at once what those sounds were.

They were those made by Mr.
Sleuth, first coming down the stairs, and walking on tiptoe--she was sure it was on tiptoe--past her door, and finally softly shutting the front door behind him.
Try as she would, Mrs.Bunting found it quite impossible to go to sleep again.

There she lay wide awake, afraid to move lest Bunting should waken up too, till she heard Mr.Sleuth, three hours later, creep back into the house and so up to bed.
Then, and not till then, she slept again.