"Very soon now, my lady, I think."
"Very well; I am going home now. Tell him to come to me as soon as he comes in."
"Could you leave any instructions, my lady, in case Mr. Simmons should be late?" asked the clerk insinuatingly.
"What do you mean?" demanded Lady Mary, with a look of withering scorn. "I came to consult Mr. Simmons, and if he is not here, he must come to me!"
And saying this, the lady sailed out of the office just in time for Mr. Brading to see her cross the road, as he walked up the street to see Mr. Andrews.
"I am glad I decided to see a lawyer, since her ladyship is going to do the same thing," he muttered half-aloud as he went on.
He was more fortunate than Lady Mary had been with her legal adviser. Mr. Andrews was at his office, and quite ready to listen to Mr. Brading's rather long story, which he told by way of explaining how he came to be possessed of the news about the railway.
Mr. Andrews was a man of few words in general, but when he heard of the lady's visit to his rival, he rubbed his hands, and a smile broke slowly all over his face.
"I am not sure that the news is not worth more than a hundred pounds to me," he said. "Now what is your own particular business, Mr. Brading?" asked the lawyer.
"Well, if this particular railway is coming at last, I had better build my new factory as close to it as I can get the land. I was just planning to buy up those cottages on the opposite side of Kent Street, and place my factory there; but it would be infinitely better to have it close to the railway. You can see that, of course?"