"Don't be silly! … You don't really care! … And now you know he's going to marry that thingammy girl! … And he said she was very pretty, and Doris is certainly ever so much prettier a name than—no, I'm not going to cry—I'm not—I'm not! … at least, not much."
CHAPTER XXVII
"I think that's everything, Caw. We shan't be much later than eleven. Don't forget that Mr. Harvie wants to catch the first steamer in the morning." Alan, in evening dress, was smoking a cigarette in the study pending the assembling of his guests in the drawing-room, all of whom had been bidden to dinner that evening by the hospitable Handyside.
"Mr. Harvie shall be looked after, sir." Caw retired to the door, closed it and came back to the hearth. "May I ask you to cast your eye over this list, Mr. Alan?" he said, presenting a sheet of notepaper.
"Why," exclaimed Alan, "this is my uncle's writing … and it's a list of the people who are now in the house—"
"With one exception, sir. Mr. Bullard."
"That's so. Where did this come from?"
"That, sir, is one of the instructions left me by my master. Those are the names of all the people who are to be present on the night when the clock stops. I ventured to bring it to your notice now merely because it struck me as a little curious, sir, especially since Mr. Harvie, the lawyer, had not intended to stay the night."
Alan smiled. "And so we want only Mr. Bullard to make the party complete!
Pity he sailed to-day for South Africa!"
"If I may say so, I should like very much to have seen him off, sir."