The man looked at him in astonishment; this traveller had tastes exactly the opposite of those of the ordinary run of customers. However, the well-trained servant, without a word indicating his surprise, went on:
“Here is the bell, sir—one ring for the waiter who attends to your room, two for the chambermaid; this is the cold water tap and there’s the hot; the electric switch is by the head of the bed.”
Tom Bob was standing in the middle of the room and gazing steadfastly at the ceiling while the man was speaking. Then he put an odd question:
“How long ago was it the gentleman who has the bedroom immediately over mine first came to the hotel?”
The waiter stared, more surprised than ever. “I haven’t an idea, sir,” he admitted; “but why?”
Tom Bob took the man by the shoulders and pushed him gently out of the room:
“It interests me enormously. It is now twenty past seven, you will find means to give me this information at twenty past eight, in sixty minutes, when they bring up my luggage. Now go!”
And now, when the servant was gone and the door shut behind him, Tom Bob at last turned to the stranger, who was, no less than the other, staring at him, bewildered by his queer behaviour.
“You will excuse me, won’t you,” he asked, “but before I give you my attention, I have a little piece of work to do.”
The other bowed, saying only by way of remonstrance: