“Well, where is he?” cried the exasperated Helen.
“Where is he?” Gladwin asked Barnes.
Whitney Barnes went down for the count of one but bobbed up serenely.
“Where is he?” he said with a nonchalant gesture. “Oh, he’s giving a lecture on butling.”
The bewildered Miss Burton did not catch the text of this explanation. In her increasing agitation she wrung her hands in her muff and almost sobbed:
“I’m sure I don’t know what to do. I simply must get word to him somehow. It’s awfully important.”
Whitney Barnes saw the trembling lip and the dampening eye and strove to avert a catastrophe that would probably double the difficulty of probing into the mystery. Turning to Gladwin, but half directing his remarks to Helen, he said:
“I’ve just been telling the ladies that you and Travers are bosom pals.”
Travers Gladwin flashed one look of amazement and then caught on.