“I beg your pardon, but are you not Duncan Fordyce?” he asked.
Duncan looked at him attentively for a second, then stepped forward.
“How do you do, Admiral Lawrence,” he said, extending his hand.
The Admiral’s haggard face lighted with a pleased smile. “So you remember me, Duncan; it’s some years since we met,” a sigh accompanied the words. “How is your dear mother?”
“Very well, thank you. Won’t you sit down, sir?” pulling forward a chair.
“Please thank your mother for her kind note of sympathy; I intended answering it——” the Admiral broke off abruptly and cleared his throat. “Tell me of yourself, Duncan, since we last met.”
“There’s nothing very much to recount, Admiral; I graduated from Yale, then from the Harvard Law School; traveled a bit in China and South America, and on my return joined a law firm in San Francisco. I am East on a short visit.”
“Sorry to have been so long,” said Tom, appearing behind the Admiral, whom he already knew. “Much obliged to you, sir, for taking care of Fordyce in my absence.”
“Duncan and I are old friends,” Admiral Lawrence stepped back. “I won’t interrupt you two any longer.”
“Don’t run away, Admiral,” protested Tom, “it’s I who must be leaving. Hope you’ll forgive me, Fordyce, but they’ve telephoned me to return to Myer at once. Please tell Miss Janet I’ll be in tomorrow.” He hesitated; should he give the bracelet to Duncan? No. Janet had particularly charged him not to let any inkling of her motor ride reach her brother’s ears, and Duncan would naturally ask him how he came to have his sister’s bracelet in his possession. “Ask her if she will telephone me what hour will be most convenient for her to see me,” he added hurriedly.