ise, seemed to
lose some more of his identity. He had a sense of loneliness, of evil
freedom. It was rather pleasant. When, after paying for his short meal,
he stood up and waited for his change, he saw himself in the sheet of
glass, and was struck by his foreign appearance. He contemplated his own
image with a melancholy and inquisitive gaze, then by sudden inspiration
raised the collar of his jacket. This arrangement appeared to him
commendable, and he completed it by giving an upward twist to the ends of
his black moustache. He was satisfied by the subtle modification of his
personal aspect caused by these small changes. "That'll do very well,"
he thought. "I'll get a little wet, a little splashed--"

He became aware of the waiter at his elbow and of a small pile of silver
coins on the edge of the table before him. The waiter kept one eye on
it, while his other eye followed the long back of a tall, not very young
girl, who passed up to a distant table looking perfectly sightless and
altogether unapproachable. She seemed to be a habitual customer.

On going out the Assistant Commissioner made to himself the observation
that the patrons of the place had lost in the frequentation of fraudulent
cookery all their national and private characteristics. And this was
strange, since the Italian restaurant is such a peculiarly British
institution. But these people were as denationalised as the dishes set
before them with every circumstance of unstamped respectability. Neither
was their personality stamped in any way, professionally, socially or
racially. They seemed created for the Italian restaurant, unless the
Italian restaurant had been perchance created for them. But that last
hypothesis was unthinkable, since one could not place them anywhere
outside those special establishments. One never met these enigmatical
persons elsewhere. It was impossible to form a precise idea what
occupations they followed by day and where they went to bed at night.
And he himself had become unplaced. It would have been impossible for
anybody to guess his occupation. As to going to bed, there was a doubt
even in his own mind. Not indeed in regard to his domicile itself, but
very much so in respect of the time when he would be able to return
there. A pleasurable feeling of independence possessed him when he heard
the glass doors swing to behind his back with a sort of imperfect baffled
thud. He advanced at once into an immen