Arrived at home he found Arthur Laing kicking his heels in the smoking-room.
“Lunching with you to-day, ain’t I, somewhere in the Palais-Royal?” asked the visitor.
“Yes, some place the General’s found out. Look here, Laing, are you a nervous man?”
“Nervous! What do you take me for?”
“Lose your head in moments of excitement?”
“I never have ‘em.”
“Oh, well, hang you! I say, Laing, you’re not a fool. Just look here. Anything I say—anything, mind—at lunch today, you’re not to contradict. You’re to back me up.”
“Right you are, old chap.”
“And the more infernal nonsense it sounds, the more you’re to take your oath about it.”
“I’m there.”