"Please, sir, it wouldn't matter for him, we don't know him."
"Why!" I cried, "he is a very old friend of mine!"
"Oh!" Violet gasped.
"Please, sir," she said after a while, "do you know any more actresses?"
I seized her by the shoulders and shook her.
"You wee bissom! You don't care a rap about me; all you want is that I should marry an actress. You want my wife to come and teach you ragtimes and tangoes!" And she blushed guiltily.
* * *
Lawson came down to see me again to-night; he wanted to tell me of an inspector's visit to-day.
"Why don't you apply for an inspectorship?" he asked.
I lit my pipe.