It was a very cold night - so cold, so windy, so snow-laden was the atmosphere, that everyone who could do so stayed indoors.
Bunting, however, was now on his way home from what had proved a really pleasant job.A remarkable piece of luck had come his way this evening, all the more welcome because it was quite unexpected!
The young lady at whose birthday party he had been present in capacity of waiter had come into a fortune that day, and she had had the gracious, the surprising thought of presenting each of the hired waiters with a sovereign!
This gift, which had been accompanied by a few kind words, had gone to Bunting's heart.It had confirmed him in his Conservative principles; only gentlefolk ever behaved in that way; quiet, old-fashioned, respectable, gentlefolk, the sort of people of whom those nasty Radicals know nothing and care less!
But the ex-butler was not as happy as he should have been.
Slackening his footsteps, he began to think with puzzled concern of how queer his wife had seemed lately.Ellen had become so nervous, so "jumpy," that he didn't know what to make of her sometimes.She had never been really good-tempered - your capable, self -respecting woman seldom is - but she had never been like what she was now.And she didn't get better as the days went on; in fact she got worse.
Of late she had been quite hysterical, and for no reason at all!
Take that little practical joke of young Joe Chandler.Ellen knew quite well he often had to go about in some kind of disguise, and yet how she had gone on, quite foolish-like - not at all as one would have expected her to do.
There was another queer thing about her which disturbed him in more senses than one.During the last three weeks or so Ellen had taken to talking in her sleep."No, no, no!" she had cried out, only the night before."It isn't true - I won't have it said - it's a lie!"And there had been a wail of horrible fear and revolt in her usually quiet, mincing voice.
******
Whew! it was cold; and he had stupidly forgotten his gloves.
He put his hands in his pockets to keep them warm, and began walking more quickly.
As h& tramped steadily along, the ex-butler suddenly caught sight of his lodger walking along the opposite side of the solitary street - one of those short streets leading off the broad road which encircles Regent's Park.
Well! This was a funny time o' night to be taking a stroll for pleasure, like!
Glancing across, Bunting noticed that Mr.Sleuth's tall, thin figure was rather bowed, and that his head was bent toward the ground.His left arm was thrust into his long Inverness tape, and so was quite hidden, but the other side of the cape bulged out, as if the lodger were carrying a bag or parcel in the hand which hung down straight.
Mr.Sleuth was walking rather quickly, and as he walked he talked aloud, which, as Bunting knew, is not unusual with gentlemen who live much alone.It was clear that he had not yet become aware of the proximity of his landlord.
Bunting told himself that Ellen was right.Their lodger was certainly a most eccentric, peculiar person.Strange, was it not, that that odd, luny-like gentleman should have made all the difference to his, Bunting's, and Mrs.Bunting's happiness and comfort in life?
Again glancing across at Mr.Sleuth, he reminded himself, not for the first time, of this perfect lodger's one fault - his odd dislike to meat, and to what Bunting vaguely called to himself, sensible food.
But there, you can't have everything! The more so that the lodger was not one of those crazy vegetarians who won't eat eggs and cheese.
No, he was reasonable in this, as in everything else connected with his dealings with the Buntings.
As we know, Bunting saw far less of the lodger than did his wife.
Indeed, he had been upstairs only three or four times since Mr.
Sleuth had been with them, and when his landlord had had occasion to wait on him the lodger had remained silent.Indeed, their gentleman had made it very clear that he did not like either the husband or wife to come up to his rooms without being definitely asked to do so.
Now, surely, would be a good opportunity for a little genial conversation? Bunting felt pleased to see his lodger; it increased his general comfortable sense of satisfaction.
So it was that the a-butler, still an active man for his years, crossed over the road, and, stepping briskly forward, began trying to overtake Mr.Sleuth.But the more he hurried along, the more the other hastened, and that without ever turning round to see whose steps he could hear echoing behind him on the now freezing pavement.
Mr.Sleuth's own footsteps were quite inaudible - an odd circumstance, when you came to think of it - as Bunting did think of it later, lying awake by Mrs.Bunting's side in the pitch darkness.What it meant of course, was that the lodger had rubber soles on his shoes.
Now Bunting had never had a pair of rubber-soled shoes sent down to him to dean.He had always supposed the lodger had only one pair of outdoor boots.
The two men - the pursued and the pursuer - at last turned into the Marylebone Road; they were now within a few hundred yards of home.
Plucking up courage, Bunting called out, his voice echoing freshly on the still air:
"Mr Sleuth, sir? Mr.Sleuth!"
The lodger stopped and turned round.
He had been walking so quickly, and he was in so poor a physical condition, that the sweat was pouring down his face.
