This contained the most modern appointments and was on an altogether more luxurious scale than that attached to his own quarters.  He noted, without drawing any deduction from the circumstance, that the fittings were of American manufacture.  Here, as in the outer room, there was no window; an electric light hung from the center of the ceiling.  Soames busied himself in filling the bath, and laying out the towels upon the rack.

“Fairly warm, sir?” he asked.

“Not too warm, thank you,” replied the other, now stumbling out of bed and falling into the armchair—­“not too warm.”

“If you will take your bath, sir,” said Soames, returning to the outer room, “I will brush your clothes and be ready to shave you.”

“Yes, yes,” said the man, rubbing his hands over his face wearily.  “You are new here?”

Soames, who was becoming used to answering this question, answered it once more without irritation.

“Yes, sir, will you take your bath now?  It is nearly full, I think.”

The man stood up unsteadily and passed into the bathroom, closing the door behind him.  Soames, seeking to forget his surroundings, took out from a small hand-bag which he found beneath the bed, a razor-case and a shaving stick.  The clothes-brush he had discovered in the bathroom; and now he set to work to brush the creased garments stacked in the armchair.  He noted that they were of excellent make, and that the linen was of the highest quality.  He was thus employed when the outer door silently opened and the face of Said looked in.

“Gazm,” said the Oriental; and he placed inside, upon the carpet, a pair of highly polished boots.

The door was reclosed.

Soames had all the garments in readiness by the time that the man emerged from the bathroom, looking slightly less ill, and not quite so pallid.  He wore a yellow silk kimono; and, with greater composure than he had yet revealed, he seated himself in the armchair that Soames might shave him.

This operation Soames accomplished, and the subject, having partially dressed, returned to the bathroom to brush his hair.  When his toilet was practically completed: 

“Shall I pack the rest of the things in the bag, sir?” asked Soames.

The man nodded affirmatively.

Five minutes later he was ready to depart, and stood before the ex-butler a well-dressed, intellectual, but very debauched-looking gentleman.  Being evidently well acquainted with the regime of the establishment, he pressed an electric bell beside the door, presented Soames with half-a-sovereign, and, as Said reappeared, took his departure, leaving Soames more reconciled to his lot than he could ever have supposed possible.

The task of cleaning the room was now commenced by Soames.  Said returned, bringing him the necessary utensils; and for fifteen minutes or so he busied himself between the outer apartment and the bathroom.  During this time he found leisure to study the extraordinary mural decorations; and, as he looked at them, he learned that they possessed a singular property.