"It is all the same; servants are not allowed to eat in the large dining-room. Here, this way; you must take your dinner in the servants' hall."
Hungry and humiliated as I was, I was willing to follow to any place to get my dinner, for I had been riding all day, and had not tasted a mouthful since early morning.
On reaching the servants' hall we found the door of the room locked. The waiter left me standing in the passage while he went to inform the clerk of the fact.
In a few minutes the obsequious clerk came blustering down the hall:
"Did you come out of the street, or from Mrs. Clarke's room?"
"From Mrs. Clarke's room," I meekly answered. My gentle words seemed to quiet him, and then he explained:
"It is after the regular hour for dinner. The room is locked up, and Annie has gone out with the key."
My pride would not let me stand longer in the hall.
"Very well," I remarked, as I began climbing the stairs, "I will tell Mrs. Clarke that I cannot get any dinner."