'I do not know, madam,' was the answer.
'He is not in London?'
'At present I do not know, madam.'
'Has he left no address? Do you not forward his letters to him?'
'No, madam. I do not forward his letters to him.'
'Then I suppose he is on his yacht,' suggested Lady Maud. [{251}]
'Madam, I do not know whether he is on his yacht.'
'You don't seem to know anything!'
'Pardon me, madam, I think I know my business. That is all I know.'
Lady Maud held her beautiful head a little higher and her lids drooped slightly as she looked down at him, for he was shorter than she. But the huge leathern face was perfectly impassive, and the still, turquoise eyes surveyed her without winking. She had never seen such stolidity in a human being. It reminded her of those big Chinese pottery dogs with vacant blue eyes that some people keep beside a fireplace or a hall door, for no explicable reason.