J.S. Fletcher 
The Talleyrand Maxim 

'It’s old Mr. Bartle, sir, ’ he whispered. 'He’s in your room there — dead ’ 'Dead?’ exclaimed Eldrick. 'Dead ’ Pratt shook his head again. 'He came up not so long after you’d gone, sir, ’ he said. 'Everybody had gone but me — I was just going. Wanted to see you about something I don’t know what. He was very tottery when he came in — complained of the stairs and the fog. I took him into your room, to sit down in the easy chair. And — he died straight off. Just, ’ concluded Pratt, 'just as if he was going quietly to sleep ’