that because he was positively too lazy to move away from it.

Dr. Armitage on entering had gone up to one of the three detectives and
spoken to him, and the man now turned to me.

"We are just having a final look round before leaving, miss," he
remarked. "It is not at all pleasant work, I assure you, to be put in to
search such a filthy place. Look there," he exclaimed, pointing at the
recumbent Short with his outstretched tongs. "I shall have to burn every
rag I have on when it is over, and I'd advise you to be careful," and he
resumed his occupation, which consisted in raking out some old papers,
while his two companions, having contrived to resume an official
appearance, prepared to leave.

The police once gone Dr. Armitage and I found ourselves in sole
possession of the office and the lethargic Short. It was no sinecure, to
be sure. Heaps of "pie," some due to the police and some to Banter, who
previous to his arrest had put his foot through several "forms" which it
was inadvisable to let fall into the hands of the police, encumbered the
floor. Everything was intensely chaotic and intensely dirty, from the type
cases and the other scanty belongings to the dormant compositor. Armitage
understood nothing of printing and I very little, and there we stood in
the midst of a disorganised printing-office whence all had fled save only
the unsavoury youth on the couch. I looked at Armitage and Armitage looked
at me, and such was the helpless dismay depicted in our faces that we both
broke into a laugh.

"Well," I said at last, "what shall we do? Suggest something. We cannot
stay on here."