The Professor had booked to Paris, where he arrived before noon on Friday. He fussed about the Gare St. Lazare for some little time, and finally put his trunks in the cloak-room. He then went to one of the smaller hotels in the Quartier de l’Europe, booked a room, for which he paid in advance, and arranged for the collection of his trunks from the station. He lunched at a big restaurant in the boulevards, and spent the afternoon at the Louvre. In the evening he returned to the Gare St. Lazare, ten minutes before the Southampton boat train was due to leave. He booked a ticket for Southampton, and with a directness in singular contrast with the indecision he had displayed on the outward journey, took his seat in the train. He reached Southampton early on Saturday morning, and remained in his cabin until the London train had left the docks. Then, carrying a single suit-case, he walked to the West station and took a ticket to Corfe Castle. Dr. Priestley, although he was known by name to a very large circle of newspaper readers, who were periodically entertained by one or other of his thrusts at some pet nostrum of the moment, such as the craze for brown bread or the discovery of vitamines, rarely or never appeared in public. He had even escaped the doubtful honour of having his photograph reproduced in the evening papers, though this perhaps was a disadvantage, since it would certainly have been unrecognizable. He was therefore in no sense a public figure, in that he was most unlikely to be distinguished from the ordinary crowd of travelling humanity. He sat in the train without any attempt at disguise, studying an ordnance map which he had laid open upon his knees. It was still early when he reached Corfe Castle. The village, with its commanding ruin perched upon the summit of a conical hill, was in full flood of its morning activity. Dr. Priestley, standing at the station gate, watched the passers-by for a moment with keen interest. Not one of them paid him the compliment of more than a fleeting and incurious glance. He walked towards the heart of the village, and entered the first inn he came to. Having ascertained that he could have a single room for as long as he liked, he announced his determination of spending a few days, and was finally shown into a comfortable room with a view of the Castle. Here he remained until lunch.