This was so vague that when Amory said "What fellow?" Mr. Strong himself saw the vagueness, and laughed.
"Of course: 'How big is a piece of wood?'—I mean the fellow who came to The Witan in a morning-coat?"
This was description enough. Amory's back straightened a little.
"Oh, Stanhope Tasker! Oh, just the husband of a friend of mine. I don't think you've met her. Why?"
Surely, she thought, Mr. Strong was not going to tell her that "Stanhope Tasker was an excellent fellow in his way, but——," as he had said of Mr. Brimby, Mr. Wilkinson and Mr. Prang!——
"Oh, nothing much. Only that I saw him to-day," Strong replied offhandedly.
"He's often about. He isn't a very busy man, I should say," Amory remarked.
"Saw him in Charing Cross Road as I was coming out of the office," Mr. Strong continued. "I don't think he saw me though."
"After his abominable manners to you that day I should think he'd be ashamed to look you in the face."
For a moment Mr. Strong looked puzzled; then he remembered, and laughed again.