The Birth of Venus

The Birth of Venus
As for the delicate and yet the all-important question of money, Mr. Sleuth was everything - everything that the most exacting landlady could have wished. Never had there been a more confiding or trusting gentleman. On the very first day he had been with them he had allowed his money - the considerable sum of one hundred and eighty-four sovereigns -
The Birth of Venus
to lie about wrapped up in little pieces of rather dirty newspaper on his dressing-table. That had quite upset Mrs. Bunting. She had allowed herself respectfully to point out to him that what he was doing was foolish, indeed wrong. But as only answer he had laughed, and she had been startled when the loud, unusual and discordant sound had issued from his thin lips.
The Birth of Venus