'It is beaten for exactly two and a half minutes before every meal,' he explained.
'Oh?' said Lucy. 'Even when we're visibly collected?'
'She doesn't know that.'
'But she saw us.'
'But she doesn't know it officially.'
'Oh,' said Lucy.
'I had to make that rule,' said Wemyss, arranging his knives and forks more accurately beside his plate, 'because they would leave off beating it almost as soon as they'd begun, and then Vera was late and her excuse was that she hadn't heard. For a time after that I used to have it beaten all up the stairs right to the door of her sitting-room. Isn't it a fine gong? Listen——' And he raised his hand.
'Very fine,' said Lucy, who was thoroughly convinced there wasn't a finer, more robust gong in existence.
'There. Time's up,' he said, as three great strokes were followed by a blessed silence.
He pulled out his watch again. 'Let's see. Yes—to the tick. You wouldn't believe the trouble I had to get them to keep time.'