"I saw her, and old—I mean, Nicholas, too—the other day, when I was coming through London."
"Nonsense, my dear boy," said Philip curtly. "You must have made a mistake. Your brother-in-law would have told me if he'd seen you."
"He didn't see me."
"Then where were you?"
"Just going along down the street. It's all on the way to Victoria station."
"I never gave you leave to hang about London by yourself. I told you to come straight through, in a four-wheeled cab."
"I missed that train——"
"You never told me," exclaimed Philip in horrified tones. "Besides, what do you mean? I met you at the station here at seven o'clock myself. How can you have missed the train?"
"I missed that slow one you wrote about, but I found there was a much better one that got to the junction in time for the connection. At least, it really arrived five minutes after my train was supposed to start, but I knew it would be late, just as it always is. I had heaps of time."
"You had no business to alter the arrangements that Father had made for you, my boy."