'Would you mind waiting here just for a moment?' Lavendale suggested. 'My friend is in this room, working with several other men. It would be better for me to have a word with him first.'
'Sure!' the other agreed. 'You run the show. I'll wait.'
Lavendale entered the apartment and approached the desk before which his friend was sitting.
'Hullo, Reggie!' he exclaimed.
The young man, who was hard at work, looked up from a sheaf of papers and held out his left hand.
'How are you, Ambrose? Sit down by the side of me, if you want to talk. We're up to the eyes here.'
Lavendale leaned over the desk.
'Look here, old chap,' he went on, 'I've come on a sort of fool's errand, perhaps. I've got a little American outside. He's a most unholy-looking object, but he wants a word with some one in the Ordnance Department.'
Merrill shook his head reproachfully.
'Is this quite fair?' he protested. 'We've had our morning dose of cranks already.'