Lord Fleetwood took Woodseer's arm. 'Do you eat with us?' he asked the baronet, who had stayed his eating for an hour and was famished; so they strode to the dining-room.
'Do you wash, sir, before eating?' Sir Meeson said to Woodseer, caressing his hands when they had seated themselves at table. 'Appliances are to be found in this hotel.'
'Soap?' said Lord Fleetwood.
'Soap—at least, in my chamber.'
'Fetch it, please.'
Sir Meeson, of course, could not hear that. He requested the waiter to show the gentleman to a room.
Lord Fleetwood ordered the waiter to bring a handbasin and towel. 'We're off directly and must eat at once,' he said.
'Soap—soap! my dear Fleetwood,' Sir Meeson knuckled on the table, to impress it that his appetite and his gorge demanded a thorough cleansing of those fingers, if they were to sit at one board.
'Let the waiter fetch it.'
'The soap is in my portmanteau.'