The servant was not sure, but would ascertain. Miss Forrest was then engaged.
I stopped the man, for I did not wish to appear in the way that matters seemed to promise. Meanwhile Simon had paid the cabby, and so the three of us stood together in the hall.
"I am an old friend of Miss Forrest's," I said to the man; "I want to be shown to the room where she is, without her being apprised of my presence."
"I daren't," he replied; "it would be as much as my place is worth."
"No, it would not," I replied. "You would not suffer in the slightest degree."
"But there are several people in the room," he said, eyeing a sovereign
I was turning over in my hand.
"How many?"
"There's Miss Forrest, her aunt, and Miss Staggles, besides a gentleman that came early in the evening."
"That gentleman's name is Herod Voltaire," I said.
"Yes, sir, that's the name. Well, I'll do as you wish me."