“Well, you cawn’t see him—at seven in the morning—the idea. Mr. Lynne never leaves his room in the morning till nine, and——â€�
“Look here, my man,â€� Nick interrupted, for he had already stepped inside the doorway, and so was well inside the house, “this is a matter of the utmost importance to Mr. Lynne, and you are to take this card to him at once, and tell him that it is extremely important that he should see me with as little delay as possible. If you don’t do it, I will find my way to his rooms myself—and you will probably lose your job.â€�
There seemed to be no help for it, and, besides, Nick spoke with a quiet assurance that visibly impressed the butler.
Rather ungraciously he took the card, which was one of Nick Carter’s own, and departed.
He returned, too, very quickly; much sooner than Nick had anticipated.
“Please come with me, sir,� he said, with more graciousness than he had shown before.
He offered no explanation of his change of manner, but, nevertheless, the detective was not surprised to find that Mr. Lynne was dressed and was engaged in sipping his morning coffee, when he was shown into the private morning room of the master of the house.
Mr. Lynne left his chair and greeted Nick pleasantly, then indicated a chair and asked him to be seated.
“I know your name, Mr. Carter, of course,� he said, “and I cannot imagine your coming to see me at this time of day unless something of the utmost importance sent you. It is fortunate that I am about rather earlier than usual this morning, otherwise you would have had to wait. I was trying to get an early start to visit my country place. May I offer you a cup of coffee?�
“No, thank you,� replied Nick, seating himself in another chair than the one that had been indicated. He always liked to sit, if he could, so that the light shone upon the features of the man he was talking with.