"i then lounged down the street and found, as i expected, that there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the garden. i lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half-and-half, two fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as i could desire about miss adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in the neighbourhood in whom i was not in the least interested, but whose biographies i was compelled to listen to."