“Why not?”

“I want to go to bed.”

“With your clothes on?”

The fellow muttered something, and struck a match.

“What are you going to do?” asked Nick.

“Light the gas.”

The detective stepped forward and extinguished the flame of the match.

“Don’t do that,” he said. “You will only warn the men who are on their way into the next flat.”

“What do I care about the next flat? I don’t believe there are any burglars about, anyway.”

Nick thought the fellow spoke unnecessarily loud.