The butler bowed and went out again. Nicky, his eyes blazing with excitement, exclaimed, “By God, this is beyond anything! To think he should dare come smash up to us! Lord, he must have opened the clock before he reached town! Now the game’s your own, Ned! May I come with you and see what trick he tries to play off?”
Carlyon shook his head. John said, “Ned, be careful! You will not meet him unarmed!”
Carlyon’s brows rose in a quizzical look. “My dear John! I really cannot be expected to receive my visitors with a pistol in my hand!”
“You said yourself he was a very dangerous man!”
“I may have done so, but I never said he was a fool. Murder me in my own house, having been admitted by my butler? I think your wits are gone woolgathering, John!”
John reddened and gave a reluctant laugh. “Well, perhaps so, but you will at least allow me to accompany you!”
Nicky instantly raised his voice in indignant protest. He was silenced by an authoritative finger “No,” said Carlyon. “I think he might find your presence embarrassing. Moreover, I wish you to entertain Mrs. Cheviot while I am away. I’ll see him alone.”
“But, Ned, what do you mean to do?” John said uneasily.
“That must depend on circumstance.”
“Well! I own his having the effrontery to come here does make it seem as though—But I’ll have no hand in giving that memorandum to him!”