“Mary,” he said, “slip upstairs as quietly as you can, and get my pyjamas and tooth brush. I’ll have to go to the barrack for the night. They’ll give me some sort of a shake-down.”
“And will the young lady be sleeping here?” asked Mary.
“I expect so,” said Mr. Goddard. “If she does, she’ll tell you so beforehand quite plainly. Make her as comfortable as you can.”
Mary went upstairs on tiptoe. Unfortunately, owing to nervousness induced by excess of caution, she upset a hot-water can, which fell with a hideous clatter against Mr. Goddard’s bath. She hastened from the bedroom, and was met on the stairs by Miss Blow.
“What have you got there?” said Miss Blow, eyeing the pyjamas suspiciously.
“It’s clothes from the wash,” said Mary. “Now that the master’s away, I thought I might as well be doing that as nothing.”
“You can tell him,” said Miss Blow, “that I’m going to the hotel now, and that I’ll be round to see him the first thing in the morning.”
She left the house, slamming the door behind her. Mary carried the pyjamas and the tooth brush upstairs again. Then she went into the kitchen and broke the happy news to her master and Captain Fielding.
“Thank God!” said Mr. Goddard. “I’m safe for to-night, anyway.”
“She’ll be back with you in the morning,” said Captain Fielding, grinning. “I don’t see that you’ve much to congratulate yourself about.”