Scott, having ascended a narrow, crooked stairway, found himself in a long, dark hall, poorly ventilated, and whose filthy condition was only too apparent even in the dim light.  Far in the rear he saw a door bearing the words, “R.  Hobson, Attorney.”  As he pushed open the door, a boy of about seventeen, who, with a cigarette in his mouth and his feet on a table, sat reading a novel, instantly assumed the perpendicular and, wheeling about, faced Scott with one of the most villainous countenances the latter had ever seen.  Something in Scott’s appearance seemed to surprise him, for he stared impudently without speaking.  After silently studying the face before him for an instant, Scott inquired for Mr. Hobson.

“He is in, sir, but he is engaged at present with a client,” said the boy, in tones which closely resembled Hobson’s.  “I will take in your card, sir.”

The boy disappeared with the card into an adjoining room, returning a moment later with the most obsequious manners and the announcement that Mr. Hobson would be at liberty in a few moments.  Scott rightly judged that this ceremony was merely enacted for effect, and contented himself with looking about the small, poorly furnished room, while the office boy opposite regarded him with an undisguised curiosity, which betrayed that this client — if such he could be regarded — differed greatly from the usual class.  Young and untaught though he were, he had learned to read the faces about him, and that of his employer was to him as an open book, and the expression which flashed into Hobson’s eyes as they fell upon Scott’s card indicated plainly to the office boy that in this instance the usual conditions were reversed, and the attorney stood in fear of his visitor.

A few moments later the door of the next room opened noiselessly and Hobson, attired in a red dressing-gown and wearing his most ingratiating smile, silently beckoned Scott to enter.  With a quick glance the latter took in every detail of the second apartment.  It was somewhat larger than the first, but the furnishing was meagre and shabby in the extreme, and, with the exception of a small set of shelves containing a few dilapidated volumes, there were no visible signs of an attorney’s office.

Hobson did not speak until he had carefully closed the door, then he said, in low tones,-

“As our conversation is likely to be of a confidential nature, you would perhaps desire greater privacy than can be secured here.  Step this way.”

He opened the door into a room so dark and so thick with stale tobacco smoke that at first Scott could discern nothing clearly.