Lady Swindon’s departure had acted as a signal for a general move, and when Villars got back, Lady Thurso was just saying good-bye to the last of her guests. On the moment, the butler came out of the house and spoke to her.
“His lordship begs that you and Lady Maud will go to his room for a moment as soon as you are disengaged, my lady,” he said.
“Tell his lordship we will come immediately. Ah, Count Villars, we were going on the river, were we not? Could you wait a few minutes? Thurso wants to see me about something.”
Maud joined her, and they went together to Thurso’s sitting-room at the end of the house. He was sitting at his table in the window, and, with his usual courtesy, got up as they entered. On the table in front of him stood a bottle of dark blue glass. He had just finished unpacking this as they entered, and threw the corrugated paper in which it had been wrapped into the waste-paper basket.
“A cigarette, Catherine?” he said, offering her one. “I want a few minutes’ talk with you both.”
She took one, and he waited till she had lit it, and sat down.
“Maud tells me,” he said, “that you and she undid a package that arrived here this afternoon addressed to me, and threw it away. That is so, I believe?”
She did not answer—it seemed unnecessary—and he raised his voice a little.
“Will you kindly say whether that is so?” he said.
“Yes; quite right,” she said.