To the servant who answered his ring, he said:
“Ah, Barker, good afternoon. Is your master in?”
Barker said he would see, and in a few moments returned with the intelligence that his master was indisposed, and could see no one.
“Go and tell him that it’s I, Barker,” said Haywood, with some loftiness.
Barker departed again, and again returned.
“He sent me out of his room and locked the door, sir, and said as how not to disturb him no more.”
“What—ahem—are you sure you understood him aright, Barker?”
“Yes, sir, sure,” said Barker, smiling, as he thought of the very emphatic manner in which the speech had been given, which he had repeated in a somewhat modified form to Haywood.
“Is Miss Florence in?” asked the merchant.
“No, sir, she left early this morning for a visit to the Cummingses.”