"Well then, my dear friend, if Clare Vawdrey is double (and I'm bound to say I think that the more of him the better), his lordship there has the opposite complaint: he isn't even whole."
We stopped once more, simultaneously. "I don't understand."
"No more do I. But I have a fancy that if there are two of Mr. Vawdrey, there isn't so much as one, all told, of Lord Mellifont."
I considered a moment, then I laughed out. "I think I see what you mean!"
"That's what makes you a comfort. Did you ever see him alone?"
I tried to remember. "Oh, yes; he has been to see me."
"Ah, then he wasn't alone."
"And I've been to see him, in his study."
"Did he know you were there?"
"Naturally—I was announced."