Billy Weaver had traveled down from London on the slow
afternoon train, with a change at Reading on the way, and
by the time he got to Bath, it was about nine o’clock in the
evening, and the moon was coming up out of a clear starry
sky over the houses opposite the station entrance. But the
air was deadly cold and the wind was like a flat blade of ice
on his cheeks.
“Excuse me,” he said, “but is there a fairly cheap hotel
not too far away from here?”
“Try The Bell and Dragon,” the porter1 answered,
pointing down the road. “They might take you in. It’s about
a quarter of a mile along on the other side.