He reached London in time to catch the mail, and the next morning at seven o'clock rang the great bell at Meurice's so loudly as to startle the porter, who, in his high sabots, was actively engaged with the flexible hose in drenching the glazed roof of the courtyard.
Meurice's was not a house with which Nugent Uffington was familiar; he had made a practice during his long sojourn abroad of shunning all those hotels which were generally patronised by his countrymen. At one or two old-fashioned establishments on the Quay Voltaire, the whole household would have rushed to greet his arrival, but to the porter of Meurice's he was a stranger. So much the better, he thought, as, while his luggage was being brought in, he asked if Lord Forestfield was staying in the house.
'Yes, sir,' replied the porter, 'milord has the suite of rooms number thirty-seven.'
'And milord was in them now?' asked Uffington, with a smile.
'En effet,' replied the porter, looking up at the clock, and perfectly comprehending the joke, 'it was probable that milord had not yet risen. Shall I give him the gentleman's name when he comes down, and say that he has been inquired after?'
'On the contrary,' said Uffington, 'you had better forget that I have ever spoken to you on the subject.'
'Parfaitement,' said the porter, whose knowledge of life was necessarily so large that he was never astonished at anything.
That day, about two o'clock, as Uffington was lounging in the courtyard, Lord Forestfield appeared with a cigar in his mouth, for which he was seeking a light. He searched two of the china match-boxes standing on the round zinc tables outside the reading-room window without effect, for they were empty, and he was turning round to curse the waiter, when Uffington offered him a light from his cigar.
Lord Forestfield took the light, and, after returning the cigar and touching his hat, was moving away, when Uffington said, 'I think I have the pleasure of speaking to Lord Forestfield? My name is Sir Nugent Uffington, and we have no doubt many common friends, among them Colonel Lydyeard, who happened to mention you were here.'
Lord Forestfield bowed. 'Very happy to make your acquaintance, Sir Nugent Uffington, I am sure,' he said. 'Heard of you very often, though you were rather before my time, and have been living abroad a good deal since, haven't you? Excellent fellow, Toni Lydyeard--liked by every one who knows him. Are you staying here?'