"No, a telegram, from Cherbourg. He says he will be here to-morrow."
With a bound Lady Clifford sprang to her feet.
"Roger here to-morrow?" she exclaimed almost sharply, her eyes fixed on her sister-in-law's face. "But it is impossible; you must be mistaken."
Her cigarette fell out of the holder to the floor, where it would have burned a hole in the carpet if Esther had not quietly picked it up.
"That's what he says."
"Let me see the telegram."
She snatched it rather brusquely from the other woman's hand and scanned it frowningly, her vivid red underlip caught between her teeth. Miss Clifford looked embarrassed. Esther moved unobtrusively across the room and examined the crystal lustres on the mantelpiece.
"Yes, but I do not understand. How is it he has come back so much sooner than he expected and without letting us know?"
"I can only suppose he has finished his work there and thought he would give us a surprise."
The younger woman gave back the telegram and turned with a slight shrug of her shoulders.