“While I had been using my eyes in this way a conversation had been conducted in undertones in another room.
“The wife was evidently telling the husband who I was. Then the door opened and there came close up to me a little man, wearing spectacles, through which he peered at me, with his small keen eyes, rather curiously, and ‘took me in’ from head to foot.
“After he had finished his examination he retired to a chair in the corner. The wife stood by his side, and he pointed me to a seat near the window.
“‘What’s your name?’ he asked me abruptly.
“‘Had I not better tell you my business first?’ I replied.
“‘Your name, sir, your address, and your occupation?—if you please.’
“I told him my name.
“‘Have you your card?’
“I handed him my card, which he carefully examined, then looked at me carefully as if to see if he could detect any discrepancy between the name on the card and the person who presented it.
“‘Now, sir, what do you want?’