"Intolerable! intolerable! But the Bun Emperor is a man of his word, I feel sure; and, indeed, he offers to accept these conditions in black and white, and to sign his name to them if you wish it."
"Oh dear, no!" Mrs. Verulam said hastily, with all a woman's usual dislike to anything business-like.
"Then that's comfortably arranged," Mr. Rodney said.
He looked at his boots for a couple of minutes, then glanced away and added:
"I hope your guest, Huskinson Van Adam, is well?"
Mrs. Verulam concealed a smile by looking very miserable suddenly.
"Indeed, I am sorry to say he is not at all well."
"Dear, dear!"
"In fact, he is in bed. He is not able to be up."