"It could not have happened more opportunely for us even if we had arranged it in every detail," declared Hampden, going into Salt's room with the tidings in huge delight, a fortnight later.
"No," agreed Salt, looking up with his slow, pleasant smile. "Not even if we had arranged it."
CHAPTER X
THE ORDER OF ST MARTIN OF TOURS
Sir John Hampden paused for a moment with arrested pen. He had been in the act of crossing off another day on the calendar that hung inside his desk, the last detail before he pulled the roll-top down for the night, when the date had caught his eye with a sudden meaning.
"A week to-day, Salt," he remarked, looking up.
"A week to-day," repeated Salt. "That gives us seven more days for details."
Hampden laughed quietly as he bent forward and continued the red line through the "14."
"That is one way of looking at it," he said. "Personally, I was rather wishing that it had been to-day. I confess that I cannot watch the climax of these two years approaching without feeling keyed up to concert pitch. I suppose that you never had any nerves?"