“How is Lord Chesterfield?” she inquired, stepping out of the sunlight.
[321]
] “He’s not been so fine to-day, madam. I think there’s pain in the left forefoot.”
“I want to have a look at him.”
“Yes, madam.”
He closed the door, led the way to the run. But Nancy started toward the stairs.
He turned. “Is there anything I can do for you, madam?”
“No, that’s all right, Jarvis. I’ll just leave my coat and come down.”
“I can take it.” He stepped forward hastily, with rather a note of apology. “The painters are up there, madam. The rain of two days ago made a leak in the roof and I had to have them in. The place is in something of a mess.”
But Nancy was already halfway up the stairs. “It doesn’t matter.”
She disappeared, dropped her coat on the divan in the gray room, and looked ceilingward. No sign of repairs there. Probably the leak was at the front of the house.