"
So saying, he rose from the chair, and, picking up his hat, backed
towards the door.
"I will not offer you my hand," he said, "for I am acutely conscious
that my position is neither dignified nor decent. I owe you a tooth that
I shall not readily forget. Good-bye!"
XV.
And backing through the doorway he made his way down the stairs and out
into the street, still emotionalized by the picture of the two young
people holding each other by the waist. He had not, however, gone far
before reason resumed its sway, and he began to see that the red velvet
chair in which he had been sitting was in reality a wireless apparatus
reaching to Berlin, or at least concealed a charge of dynamite to blow
up some King or Prime Minister; and that the looking-glasses, of which
he had noticed two at least, were surely used for signalling to Gothas
or Zeppelins. This plunged him into a confusion so poignant that, rather
by accident than design, he found himself again at Hampstead instead of
at Scotland Yard. "In the society of Aurora alone," he thought, "can I
free myself from the goadings of conscience, for it was she who sent me
on that errand." And, instead of going in, he took up a position on his
lawn whence he could attract her attention by waving his arms.
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