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“I have been over a week,” he said. “I put up at the Gresham. That’s in Sackville Street. I had to get in touch first thing. I was to meet my ‘cousin’ in the lounge of the Hibernian Hotel, Dawson Street, at a quarter to twelve. After a talk with him I would know the lie of the land better, and be in a position to set to work at once. A fellow learns from experience how to cast the net as quickly and as widely as possible.”

“How do you mean?”

“The commercial traveller bustles from business house to business house, finds his way into the different billiard saloons, tests the merits of the bars. The other people get going in their own ways.”

“I’ve never seen you in a hurry.”

“Never be in a hurry. Don’t delay in preparing the ground; but when that is done the experienced fellow sits like a man beneath a tree, waiting for the ripe fruit to drop into his lap. He has a golden rule, which he never breaks. It is, do not ask a direct question. What he must know must be found out indirectly while he is yawning and showing at best a polite interest. So it follows his informant forgets what has been said; but he does not forget.”