"I was taking a letter to your house," said Arthur. "I hope the news in it will not affect you in a similar way. I cannot say I think much of it myself at present."
"Well, well, as you say it is a high explosive, I will wait until I reach the safety of my own armchair before opening it, and I should advise you young people to go home now."
"Yes, indeed we must," said Molly, "for we have been out much longer than we intended, and Annie will be in a fright about us."
And the two shook hands with Mr. Andrews and wished him good-night.
This fortnight which had brought such an uneasiness and anxiety to Arthur had not been much more pleasant to Lady Mary. She wrote letters and sent telegrams to her lawyer, but could only get vague polite assurances from his chief clerk that her business should be attended to at the earliest possible moment, and then at last she heard that Mr. Simmons was ill, and had been obliged to leave home for rest and change. She obtained this information at last, after a personal protest to the young man left in charge of the office and business.
"Why didn't you tell me this when I first called and asked to see Mr. Simmons?" fumed Lady Mary. "What business had you to tell me that Mr. Simmons would see me the next day?"
And the Irish Jig was performed for the edification of the other two clerks, for at the thought of the hundred pounds she had paid for early information of what all the town was now talking of, she felt like tearing her hair, or else the clerk's who had managed to delay her business.
"And you mean to tell me that Mr. Simmons has not had my letters?"
"I was compelled to obey orders, my lady. The letters went up to the house, but I don't think the doctor would let him open them. I have had to keep things going here as well as I could, but as your letters were marked 'Strictly private,' why, of course they wouldn't be opened till Mr. Simmons could attend to them himself, my lady."
The young man evidently thought this ought to reassure the irate lady, but it only made her the more angry. "I might just as well have thrown my hundred pounds in the gutter, and all through setting an idiot like you to look after business! What was Simmons thinking about to trust anybody like you with his office?"