"Even the brutes have instincts, if not sense," snapped Lady Jim, scathingly, and Adam, without Eve, took his solitary way down the stairs, to be dismissed into a cheerless world by an indifferent footman.
To prevent interruption, Leah closed the door herself, and switched on the electrics, before she returned to her untimely visitor.
"Will you be long, Duke?" she asked, again consulting the clock. "I have to dress for dinner. Mrs. Martin's, you know: a stupid woman with a bad cook. Such a bore!"
"I wonder you care to see people when Jim's away," said Pentland, fretfully, and she noted suddenly his aged looks.
Lady Jim felt inclined to retort with the proverb of the absent cat and the jubilant mice, but she really felt sorry for the old man's drooping mouth and additional wrinkles.
"I won't see any one, if you like, Duke--I'm sure it's no pleasure to make conversation without ideas. Do let me ring for hot tea--you look so tired. Sit down in this chair--and the cushion--there!" She made him comfortable with genuine womanly sympathy, wondering, meanwhile, what was ageing him.
"No tea, my dear. I can only wait for a few minutes; my carriage is below. Tired? Yes, I am very tired; worried, also."
"Nothing wrong, I hope," murmured Leah, sympathetically.
"Jim, my dear--poor Jim! Have you heard about his health lately?"
"Oh yes! Last week I received a few lines, and he said that he felt ever so much better. His cough is almost gone."