But that is the kind of
mistress that London is to those who have once felt her spell; you may
forget her by the year, but the spell lies lurking in the first whiff of
the wood pavement, the first flutter of the evening paper on the curb;
and even in the cab you wonder how you have borne existence elsewhere.
The hotel was very empty, and Langholm found not only the best of rooms
at his disposal, but that flattering quality of attention which awaits
the first comer when few come at all. He refreshed himself with tea and
a bath, and then set out to reconnoitre the scene of the already
half-forgotten murder. He had a vague though sanguine notion that his
imaginative intuition might at once perceive some possibility which had
never dawned upon the academic intelligence of the police.
Of course he remembered the name of the street, and it was easily
found. Nor had Langholm any difficulty in discovering the house, though
he had forgotten the number. There were very few houses in the street,
and only one of them was empty and to let. It was plastered with the
bills of various agents, and Langholm noted down the nearest of these,
whose office was in King's Road.
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