'Oh, certainly.'
And, with Wylder's great red seal on the back of the envelope, the letter ran thus:—
'DEAR LARKIN,—I write in haste to save post, to say I shall be detained in town a few days longer than I thought. Don't wait for me about the parchments; I am satisfied. If anything crosses your mind, a word with Mr. De C. at the Hall, will clear all up. Have all ready to sign and seal when I come back—certainly, within a week.
'Yours sincerely,
'M. WYLDER,
'London.'
It was evidently written in great haste, with the broad-nibbed pen he liked; but notwithstanding the sort of swagger with which the writing marched across the page, Lake might have seen here and there a little quaver—indicative of something different from haste—the vibrations of another sort of flurry.
'"Certainly within a week," he writes. Does he mean he'll be here in a week or only to have the papers ready in a week?' asked Lake.
'The question, certainly, does arise. It struck me on the first perusal,' answered the attorney. 'His address is rather a wide one, too—London! Do you know his club, Captain Lake?'
'The Wanderers. He has left the United Service. Nothing for me, by-the-way?'