92 AN INFALLIBLE NOSE 
I have heard of several; one of a man who was 
distinctly conscious in a disagreeable way of the smell 
of others; it was told to me by a friend who knew 
the man and had talked to him about his acute smell. 
My friend lived in a mining town in Wales, and the 
man came there from London, sent by his employers 
to act as their agent, and to reside most of the time 
in the place. He was anxious about his lodgings; it 
was necessary that they should be scrupulously clean 
and the landlady an exceptionally trustworthy per- 
son. Having found just what he wanted, he settled 
down for a few weeks, and was then called to London 
by his employers, who wanted him for a few days in 
town. Before going he called his landlady and charged 
her solemnly not to admit a stranger into his rooms 
during his absence: they were his rooms which he 
paid for, and he would not have them used by another. 
She assured him with some show of indignation that 
it was a thing she never did, that it was against her 
principles, and the rest of it; but after he had been 
gone a day or two she was prevailed upon by some- 
one who knew the house to let him have the room for 
one night. A week later the man came back, and had 
no sooner entered his bedroom than he shouted to 
his landlady and asked her how she dared to allow 
a stranger to sleep in his bed! She denied it, and in 
his anger he called her a wicked liar, since he knew 
perfectly well what she had done. " How do you 
know ? " she demanded. " By the smell," he replied. 
" The whole room smells of the fellow you have had 
the impudence to put in here. My nose has never 
