"Would it suit you if I ran out to-night?" Maitland demanded so abruptly that Bannerman was disconcerted.
"I—er—ask nothing better."
"I'll bring them in town to-morrow. You arrange about the vault and advise me, will you, like a good fellow?"
"Bless my soul! I never dreamed that you would be so—so—"
"Amenable to discipline?" Maitland grinned, boylike, and, leaning back, appreciated Bannerman's startled expression with keen enjoyment. "Well, consider that for once you've scared me. I'm off—just time to catch the ten-twenty for Greenfields. Waiter!"
He scrawled his initials at the bottom of the bill presented him, and rose. "Sorry, Bannerman," he said, chuckling, "to cut short a pleasant evening. But you shouldn't startle me so, you know. Pardon me if I run; I might miss that train."
"But there was something else—"
"It can wait."
"Take a later train, then."
"What! With this grave peril hanging over me? _Im_possible! 'Night."