Macmaster was thus not a little excited, and finding Tietjens at tea amid the green-stained furnishings and illustrated papers of the large, corrugated iron golf-house, he could not help exclaiming:
"I've accepted the invitation to breakfast with the Duchemins to-morrow for us both. I hope you won't mind," although Tietjens was sitting at a little table with General Campion and his brother-in-law, the Hon. Paul Sandbach, Conservative member for the division and husband of Lady Claudine. The General said pleasantly to Tietjens:
"Breakfast! With Duchemin! You go, my boy! You'll get the best breakfast you ever had in your life."
He added to his brother-in-law: "Not the eternal mock kedgeree Claudine gives us every morning."
Sandbach grunted:
"It's not for want of trying to steal their cook. Claudine has a shy at it every time we come down here."
The General said pleasantly to Macmaster—he spoke always pleasantly, with a half smile and a slight sibilance:
"My brother-in-law isn't serious, you understand. My sister wouldn't think of stealing a cook. Let alone from Duchemin. She'd be frightened to."
Sandbach grunted:
"Who wouldn't?"