“Oh, I’m all right for the present, thanks. I pinched close on fifty pounds from a man this morning.”
“You did what?” said Lord Tilbury blankly.
“Pinched fifty pounds. Surprising he should have had so much on him. But lucky—for me.”
“Did he make any objection to your remarkable behaviour?”
“He was asleep at the time, and I didn’t wake him. I just left a poached egg on his pillow and came away.”
Lord Tilbury swallowed convulsively and his eye sought that of Mrs. Hammond in a tortured glare.
“A poached egg?” he whispered.
“So that he would find it there when he woke,” explained Sam.
Mrs. Hammond had abandoned her intention of withdrawing and leaving the two men together for a cosy chat. Georgie, it seemed to her from his expression, needed a woman’s loving support. Sam appeared to have affected him like some unpleasant drug, causing starting of the eyes and twitching of the muscles.
“It is a pity you missed the Mauretania, Mr. Shotter,” she said. “My brother had hoped that you would travel with him so that you could have a good talk about what you were to do when you joined his staff.”