Sir Patrick returned to the memorandum.

"'He said at dinner, before the landlady and the waiter, I take these
rooms for my wife. He made _her_ say he was her husband, at the same
time.' Was that done jocosely, Mr. Delamayn--either by the lady or the
gentleman?"

"No. It was done in downright earnest."

"You mean it was done to look like earnest, and so to deceive the
landlady and the waiter?"

"Yes."

Sir Patrick returned to the memorandum.

"'After that, he stopped all night.' Stopped in the rooms he had taken
for himself and his wife?"

"Yes."

"And what happened the next day?"

"He went away. Wait a bit! Said he had business for an excuse."

"That is to say, he kept up the deception with the people of the inn?
and left the lady behind him, in the character of his wife?"

"That's it."