CHAPTER XIV
Phipps received his visitor with a genial smile and outstretched hand.
"Delighted to see you, Mr. Wingate," he said heartily. "Take a chair, please. I do not know whether you smoke in the mornings, but these Cabanas," he added, opening the box, "are extraordinarily mild and I think quite pleasant."
Wingate refused both the chair and the cigars and appeared not to notice the outstretched hand.
"You will forgive my reminding you, Mr. Phipps," he remarked drily, "that my visit this morning is not one of good-will. I should not be here at all except for Lord Dredlinton's assurance that the business on which you desired to see me has nothing whatever to do with the British and Imperial Granaries."
"Nothing in the world, Mr. Wingate," was the prompt declaration. "We would very much rather receive you here as a friend, but we will, if you choose, respect your prejudices and come to the point at once."
"In one moment."
"You have something to say first?"
"I have," Wingate replied gravely. "I should not willingly have sought
you out. I do not, as a matter of fact, consider that any director of the
British and Imperial Granaries deserves even a word of warning. But since
I am here, I am going to offer it."
"Of warning?" Dredlinton muttered, glancing up nervously.