little white-bodied being, went through the outhouse into the open air.

Outside, he found himself staggering, he didn't know why--whether from
the emotions he had experienced or from the clammy, close hair of the
shut-up room; all he knew was that by the time he reached the
public-house, which he had correctly foreseen was to be found at the
corner, he felt quite as much in want of the brandy as his patient
herself.

It occurred to him, as he stood in the bar, swallowing some fiery liquid
of dubious origin which the landlord had sold to him as brandy, to make
a casual inquiry about Mrs. Higgs.

"Yes," said the landlord, "I do know a Mrs. Higgs. She comes in here
sometimes; she likes her glass. But they know more about her at The
Admiral's Arms, Commercial Road way," and he gave a nod of the head to
indicate the direction of that neighborhood.

"Do you know her address?" asked Max.

The landlord smiled.

"It 'ud take a clever head to keep the addresses of all the chance
customers as comes in here. For the matter of that, very few of 'em have
any addresses in particular; it's one court one week, and t'other the
next."

"But she's a very respectable woman, the Mrs. Higgs I mean," said Max,
tentatively.