92 AN INFALLIBLE NOSE 



I have heard of several; one of a man who was 

 distinctly conscious in a disagreeable way of the smeU 

 of others; it was told to me by a friend who knew 

 the man and had talked to him about his acute smeU. 

 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 smeU," he replied. 

 " The whole room smells of the fellow you have had 

 the impudence to put in here. My nose has never 



