“I would like to see Mr. Montgomery,” said Nick.
“He’s not at home, sir.”
“Then I would like to speak with Miss Louise Lansing.”
“She is not well this morning.”
“I think she will see me. I wish to talk with her about her brother.”
A voice from the second floor came down the stairway behind the maid.
“Have the gentleman come in, Mary. Show him up to uncle’s study—I will see him there.”
Nick was admitted and ushered up the broad stairs into a large room, lined with books and comfortably furnished.
An open desk, strewed with papers, was at one end of the room.
A young lady of eighteen or nineteen, very pretty but very much depressed, as Nick could see, met him as he came in.