Brief as our interview had been, however, it had left me in a very satisfied frame of mind. From what I had seen of the Inspector I felt pretty sure that if there was anything worth knowing about Manning's past career he would soon succeed in ferreting it out. Apart from that, the knowledge that in a tight corner I should have him as well as Bobby at my back was the kind of encouraging thought that would have put heart into a rabbit. My good spirits were in no way damped by one or two drops of rain, which at that moment, much to my surprise, began to dot the pavement. Looking up, I noticed for the first time that a change was taking place in the weather. A great bank of cloud was creeping slowly up from the east, and spreading in a black, threatening line all across the sky. Manning's prophecy at once came into my mind, but, not being particularly anxious for a ducking, I wasted no time in further reflections. Hailing a passing taxi, I instructed the man to take me back to the Great Eastern Hotel, which I reached in comfort and dryness just as the rain began to descend in a steady drizzle. There was nothing to do under the circumstances but to make the best of things indoors. I am never at a loss how to amuse myself if I can get a game of billiards, and I soon discovered that the hotel possessed a couple of excellent tables, presided over by a red-headed marker, who spoke Scotch and looked as if he drank it. We played several hundred up with varying success; and at six-thirty, feeling quite ready to face a good dinner, I set out for Mr. Drayton's club. As an additional encouragement to my appetite I walked the whole way to St. James's Street, for by this time, although the pavements were still wet, the rain itself had practically ceased falling. The club proved to be a big, sombre establishment, inhabited chiefly by middle-aged gentlemen of a distinctly morose aspect. What they had to be morose about I can't imagine, for a better meal than the one put before us I never wish to eat. Mr. Drayton, who was waiting for me in the hall and conducted me straight into the dining-room, confessed frankly that he had joined the place purely for the sake of its excellent cooking, and the respect which I already had for his judgment rose steadily with each succeeding course. After dinner we made our way to the smoking-room upstairs, where, with the assistance of a couple of leather arm-chairs and a plentiful supply of whisky and soda, the time passed away so pleasantly that it was close on midnight before I got back to my own bed at the hotel.