He made a conclusive little gesture with his hand.
"I did nothing," he said. "I did not even put on my coat, but lit a cigarette, perfectly prepared to wait till the return of my courier. But somehow they saw their mistake, and were profuse in apologies, which I assured them were unnecessary."
"It's like clumps," said Dodo. "We've got to guess what it was that convinced them. I believe you gave them five pounds for a local charity, just as you gave me five pounds this morning. Or did they see the coronet on your cigarette case?"
The impenetrable man smiled indulgently.
"Scarcely," he said, "I imagine they just realised who I was."
"My dear, what a different ending, as you said, to my adventure on the bus! They all felt your birth and breeding. That was it. With me there was nothing of that kind to be felt. Wasn't it that you meant?"
The bland superiority of his face suffered no diminution. He gave his butler-bow.
"I offer no explanation at all," he said, "I merely recounted an experience similar in some ways to yours."
"And in some ways so different," said Dodo. "How wonderful the perception of people at Corinth must be!"