“I doubt if she’ll be at home then; but, of course, you must do as you like about the calling.”
“The fact is, I want to see Lady Gwendolyn upon particular business,” added Colonel Dacre impressively. “I am sure she would not refuse to receive me if she knew this, and I should be really obliged if you would mention it to her. Or would it be better if I wrote a line, and explained matters myself?”
“I should almost think it would, sir.”
“Yes, but is she sure to get my letter?”
“I don’t fancy anybody would steal it, sir,” replied the man shortly.
“I didn’t mean that, of course; but if she is not here it could be forwarded, I suppose?”
“There would be no difficulty about that.”
Colonel Dacre tried to slip a sovereign into his hand, but the man was evidently obtuse, for he let it drop, and seemed quite surprised when he heard it ring on the stone floor.
“You are losing your money, sir,” he said; and, having picked it up, he handed it back with such a virtuously reproachful air that Colonel Dacre dared not so much as hint that it was for him, and restored it to his pocket in rather a crestfallen way.
He went back to the inn to secure his bed, and then he returned to the charge. Seating himself on a bank just outside the gate of the Grange, he watched the house and garden both.