“Certainly, sir—­one minute more.  I overlooked—­” and Mr. Henfrey finished and went.

But he went feeling excessively annoyed.  “Damn it!” said Mr. Henfrey to himself, trudging down the village through the thawing snow; “a man must do a clock at times, sure-ly.”

And again “Can’t a man look at you?—­Ugly!”

And yet again, “Seemingly not.  If the police was wanting you you couldn’t be more wropped and bandaged.”

At Gleeson’s corner he saw Hall, who had recently married the stranger’s hostess at the “Coach and Horses,” and who now drove the Iping conveyance, when occasional people required it, to Sidderbridge Junction, coming towards him on his return from that place.  Hall had evidently been “stopping a bit” at Sidderbridge, to judge by his driving. “’Ow do, Teddy?” he said, passing.

“You got a rum un up home!” said Teddy.

Hall very sociably pulled up.  “What’s that?” he asked.

“Rum-looking customer stopping at the ‘Coach and Horses,’” said Teddy.  “My sakes!”

And he proceeded to give Hall a vivid description of his grotesque guest.  “Looks a bit like a disguise, don’t it?  I’d like to see a man’s face if I had him stopping in my place,” said Henfrey.  “But women are that trustful—­where strangers are concerned.  He’s took your rooms and he ain’t even given a name, Hall.”

“You don’t say so!” said Hall, who was a man of sluggish apprehension.

“Yes,” said Teddy.  “By the week.  Whatever he is, you can’t get rid of him under the week.  And he’s got a lot of luggage coming to-morrow, so he says.  Let’s hope it won’t be stones in boxes, Hall.”

He told Hall how his aunt at Hastings had been swindled by a stranger with empty portmanteaux.  Altogether he left Hall vaguely suspicious.  “Get up, old girl,” said Hall.  “I s’pose I must see ’bout this.”

Teddy trudged on his way with his mind considerably relieved.

Instead of “seeing ’bout it,” however, Hall on his return was severely rated by his wife on the length of time he had spent in Sidderbridge, and his mild inquiries were answered snappishly and in a manner not to the point.  But the seed of suspicion Teddy had sown germinated in the mind of Mr. Hall in spite of these discouragements.  “You wim’ don’t know everything,” said Mr. Hall, resolved to ascertain more about the personality of his guest at the earliest possible opportunity.  And after the stranger had gone to bed, which he did about half-past nine, Mr. Hall went very aggressively into the parlour and looked very hard at his wife’s furniture, just to show that the stranger wasn’t master there, and scrutinised closely and a little contemptuously a sheet of mathematical computations the stranger had left.  When retiring for the night he instructed Mrs. Hall to look very closely at the stranger’s luggage when it came next day.

“You mind you own business, Hall,” said Mrs. Hall, “and I’ll mind mine.”