On the sofa, too, lay a gorgeous tea
gown resplendent with pink satin, also a pair of gold embroidered
slippers, not over small, and an odd gant de Suede, with such an
extraordinary number of buttons that it almost looked like the cast-
off skin of a brown snake.
"I see that your mistress has been having company, Ellen," he said
coldly.
"Yes, sir, just a few lady friends to cheer her up a bit," answered
the woman, with her abominable simper; "poor dear, she do get that low
with you away so much, and no wonder; and then all these money
troubles, and she night by night working hard for her living at the
music hall. Often and often have I seen her crying over it all----"
"Ah," said he, breaking in upon her eloquence, "I suppose that the
lady friends smoke cigars. Well, clear away this mess and leave me--
stop, give me a brandy-and-soda first. I will wait for your mistress."
The woman stopped talking and did as she was bid, for there was a look
in Mr. Quest's eye which she did not quite like. So having placed the
brandy-and-soda-water before him she left him to his own reflections.
Apparently they were not very pleasant ones. He walked round the room,
which was reeking of patchouli or some such compound, well mixed with
the odour of stale cigar smoke, looking absently at the gee-gar
ornaments.
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