"Mr. Penfellow, the Vicar, your ludship, instructed me to tell you the service for 'is late ludship would be tomorrow morning, as you requested. 'E had made all arrangements consequent upon receiving your ludship's cablegram. Oh, yes, sir, and Mr. Hilyer was over from Little Depping this afternoon in a motor—with some ladies, sir—and asked after you. 'E said 'e would be at the funeral, sir."
Hugh frowned.
"I will not have anything to do with that bounder," he grunted.
"'E 'as quite a lively time, so the servants tell me, your ludship," volunteered Watkins. "A regular 'ouse-party 'e's entertaining now, with foreign gentry and all."
"They would be foreign," retorted Hugh. "He can't get a decent Englishman inside his house, and if he thinks I shall fall for him just because I've spent two years in America—" he broke into a sudden grin—"It's rather funny, Jack. I expect he believes I've been metamorphosed into a bloomin' democrat. The bounder!"
"What's the matter with the man?" inquired Nikka.
"Everything! The Hilyers own the next place to us—Little Depping, it's called. They were always decent enough people, but this chap, Montey Hilyer, is a wrong 'un. He got into trouble before the War with the Stewards of the Jockey Club and was barred from the course. Then he picked up a reputation as a card-sharp and society gambler. For a while he used to hang around Continental resorts and fleece the innocent.
"When the War came he enlisted, made a splendid record and earned a commission. The next thing that happened was a scandal in his mess over heavy play, and he was compelled to resign. He's a bad egg, through and through. Odd, though, how he keeps up Little Depping. I believe he's been on short rations more than once, but he always has managed to preserve the estate—and like me, he's the last of the line."
Watkins removed the savory, and received a platter of sandwiches from the butler, who he permitted to come no farther than the door.
"And your ludship may remember Mr. Hilyer married some years ago—before 'e got into trouble, sir," he observed as he placed the platter before us. "She was, if I may say so, your ludship, not one of us."