Page:Bentley- Trent's Last Case (Nelson, nd).djvu/183

Rh enough now, I think. Let us leave it to dry, and get rid of all this mess.'

Mr. Cupples, as the other busily cleared the table of a confusion of basins, dishes, racks, boxes, and bottles, picked up first one and then another of the objects and studied them with innocent curiosity.

'That is called hypo-eliminator,' said Trent, as Mr. Cupples uncorked and smelt at one of the bottles. 'Very useful when you're in a hurry with a negative. I shouldn't drink it, though, all the same. It eliminates sodium hypophosphite, but I shouldn't wonder if it would eliminate human beings too.' He found a place for the last of the litter on the crowded mantel-shelf, and came to sit before Mr. Cupples on the table. 'The great thing about a hotel sitting-room is that its beauty does not distract the mind from work. It is no place for the mayfly pleasures of a mind at ease. Have you ever been in this room before, Cupples? I have, hundreds of times. It has pursued me all over England for years. I should feel lost without it if, in some fantastic, far-off hotel, they were to give me some other sitting-room. Look at this table-cover; there is