"
XXII
_In which Professor Nicolovius drops a Letter on the Floor, and
Queed conjectures that Happiness sometimes comes to Men wearing a
Strange Face._
Queed sat alone in the sitting-room of the Duke of Gloucester Street
house. His afternoon's experiences had interested him largely. By subtle
and occult processes which defied his analysis, what he had seen and
heard had proved mysteriously disturbing--all this outpouring of
irrational sentiment in which he had no share. So had his conversation
with the girl disturbed him. He was in a condition of mental unrest,
undefined but acute; odds and ends of curious thought kicked about
within him, challenging him to follow them down to unexplored depths.
But he was paying no attention to them now.
He sat in the sitting-room, wondering how Nicolovius had ever happened
to think of that story about the Fenian refugee.
For Queed had been gradually driven to that unpleasant point. While
living in the old man's house, he was, despite his conscientious
efforts, virtually spying upon him.
The Fenian story had always had its questionable points; but so long as
the two men were merely chance fellow-boarders, it did as well as any
other.
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