"A cigarette, Loder?" I said, offering my case. For the moment Loder was
not smoking; for long enough he had not been talking.
"Thanks," he replied, taking not only the cigarette, but the case also.
The others went on talking; Loder became silent again; but I noticed
that he kept my cigarette case in his hand, and looked at it from time to
time with an interest that neither its design nor its costliness seemed
to explain. Presently I caught his eye.
"A pretty case," he remarked, putting it down on the table. "I once had
one exactly like it."