“Very good, sir. Is there anything I can do, sir?”
“Do? What do you mean?”
“I thought perhaps you might be ill, sir. I—”
“Not at all, not at all,” somewhat irascibly. “Ask Mrs. Carstairs to come to my room—Wait! Have you had any news here today?”
“No, sir,—nothink as I am aware of, sir.”
“No—er—commotion?”
“I think not, sir. It isn't serious. Sort of—ah—what you might call stomach—ah—although cook says it can't have been anything she ate last—”
“By the way, what made you think I was ill?”
“Well,—since you ask, sir,—you do look a bit seedy, sir,—that is to say pale and—”
“I wish to see Mrs. Carstairs alone. Please avoid mentioning my return in Miss Hansbury's presence.”