“My dear,” he confided to his wife, “I have sold Little Badholme.”
“Claude!”
“Ah, I thought that would come in the nature of a surprise.”
“But you said it was mortgaged?”
“Quite so, but I shall get a sum much in excess of the mortgage.” 67
“But who——?”
“That American fellow—Conlan; not a bad chap, not at all a bad chap.”
Lady Featherstone looked a trifle hurt. She looked more so when her noble spouse added:
“So I’ve invited him down with us for a fortnight to look over the place.”
“Claude! Whatever has taken possession of you? I thought we had done with that man. And besides, I am not going to bury myself in Devonshire at the height of the season.”