"True," said Herring, and he washed his face.
At breakfast that morning Pritchard received the following cablegram:
Come home and shake hands. I'm off. M.
Greatly moved, he carried it to Gay, and without comment put it in her hand.
"Who is M?" she asked.
"My uncle, the Earl of Merrivale."
"What does I'm off mean?"
"It means," said Pritchard, "that they've given him up, and he wants to make friends. He never liked my father or me."
"It means," said Gay generously, "that you are going away?"