"That's a blank verse line," said John. There really was not much else that he could have said to such an affected greeting.
"Probably, probably," Laurence muttered, shaking his head. "It's difficult for me to talk in prose nowadays. But I have news for you, John, good news. Thomas is finished."
"You needn't wait, Mrs. Worfolk," said John.
His housekeeper was standing by the door with a face wreathed in notes of interrogation and seemed unwilling to retire.
"You needn't wait, Mrs. Worfolk," he repeated, irritably.
"I thought you might have been wanting somebody fetched, sir."
John made an impatient gesture and Mrs. Worfolk vanished.
"You know Miss Hamilton, Laurence," said John, severely.
"Ah, Miss Hamilton! Forgive my abstraction. How d'ye do? But—ah—I was anxious to have a few words in private."
"Miss Hamilton is my confidential secretary."