"Thank you, sir," said Pollyooly; and dropped a curtsey, like the well-mannered child she was.
"Your housekeeper? To think that she should have roused the whole hotel to get that bath!" said Mr. Wilkinson bitterly.
"She was for the time being the daughter of a duke—by your appointment," said the Honourable John Ruffin suavely.
Mr. Wilkinson waved the detective out of the room, and followed him. At the door he paused to say very heavily:
"I shall never trust my eyes again."
"No: I shouldn't," said the Honourable John Ruffin gently. "I think another time, if I were you, I should try glasses."
CHAPTER VII
POLLYOOLY PLAYS THE GOOD SAMARITAN
Mr. Wilkinson had departed, a sadder but very little wiser man, and taken his detective with him; Mrs. Brown had been thanked, paid, and dismissed; and Pollyooly, having sufficiently fondled and kissed the irresponsive but unresisting Lump, went into the kitchen and set about getting ready the Honourable John Ruffin's tea.