He came up and spoke to the two men, and while he did so Bingham observed Miss Scott suddenly appear and make straight for them, holding something in her hand.
"Bravo! What a sprint," murmured Bingham, as Gwendolen reached them rather breathless.
"Oh, Mr. Harding," she panted, "Lady Dashwood saw you coming and thought you wouldn't know where she and Mrs. Potten were. Have you got the Buckinghamshire collar?"
Bingham burst into subdued laughter.
"My wife sent me over with it," said Harding, who could not see anything amusing in the incident. "She said Lady Dashwood had got Mrs. Potten here. That's all right," and he gravely drew from his sleeve a piece of mauve paper, carefully rolled up, on which was stitched the collar in question.
"Here's the money," said Gwen, holding out a folded paper.
Harding took the paper.
"Thirty shillings," said Gwen. "Is that right?"
"Yes, thirty shillings," said Harding. "The price is marked on the paper."
"Extraordinarily cheap at the price," remarked Bingham. "There is no other collar equal to it in Buckinghamshire."