Like a fool, I never took the address, and never
noticed the way I was going.
"It's an awful business," he continued. "I don't see how I'm ever
going to find her. I hoped she might stroll down to the Spa in the
evening, and I've been hanging about the gates ever since six. I
hadn't the threepence to go in."
"But have you no notion of the sort of street or the kind of house
it was?" I enquired.
"Not a ghost," he replied. "I left it all to Maud, and didn't
trouble."
"Have you tried any of the lodging-houses?" I asked.
"Tried!" he exclaimed bitterly. "I've been knocking at doors, and
asking if Mrs. McQuae lives there steadily all the afternoon, and
they slam the door in my face, mostly without answering. I told a
policeman--I thought perhaps he might suggest something--but the
idiot only burst out laughing, and that made me so mad that I gave
him a black eye, and had to cut. I expect they're on the lookout
for me now."
"I went into a restaurant," he continued gloomily, "and tried to
get them to trust me for a steak. But the proprietress said she'd
heard that tale before, and ordered me out before all the other
customers.
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