Recognizing T.X.he checked his sarcasm, which he had prepared for a keyless lodger, and led the way into the drawing room.
"You didn't tell me not to speak about it, Mr.Meredith," he said, in an aggrieved tone, "and as a matter of fact I have spoken to nobody except the gentleman who called the same day." "What did he want ?" asked T.X.
"He said he had only just discovered that Mr.Vassalaro had stayed with me and he wanted to pay whatever rent was due," replied the other.
"What like of man was he ?" asked T.X.
The brief description the man gave sent a cold chill to the Commissioner's heart.
"Kara for a ducat!" he said, and swore long and variously.
"Cadogan Square," he ordered.
His ring was answered promptly.

Mr.Kara was out of town, had indeed been out of town since Saturday.

This much the man-servant explained with a suspicious eye upon his visitors, remembering that his predecessor had lost his job from a too confiding friendliness with spurious electric fitters.

He did not know when Mr.Kara would return, perhaps it would be a long time and perhaps a short time.

He might come back that night or he might not.
"You are wasting your young life," said T.X.bitterly.