“Eh? Is Spennie bringing a friend?”
There was not a great deal of enthusiasm in Sir Thomas’s voice. His nephew was not a young man whom he respected very highly. Spennie regarded his uncle with nervous apprehension, as one who would deal with his shortcomings with vigour and severity. Sir Thomas, for his part, looked on Spennie as a youth who would get into mischief unless he had an eye fixed on him. So he proceeded to fix that eye.
“I had a wire from him just now.”
“Who is his friend?”
“He doesn’t say. He just says he’s a man he met in London.”
“H’m!”
“And what does ‘H’m!’ mean?” demanded Lady Julia.
“A man can pick up strange people in London,” said Sir Thomas judicially.
“Nonsense.”
“Just as you say, my dear.”