Mrs. Merillia breathed a sigh of relief.
“I am so thankful, Hennessey. Are you dining out to-night?”
“No, grannie. I don’t feel very well. I have a headache. I shall go and lie down for a little.”
“Yes, do. Everybody is lying down; Fancy, the upper housemaid, the cook. Even Gustavus, they tell me, is trying to snatch a little uneasy repose on his what-not. It has been a terrible day.”
Mrs. Merillia lay back and closed her eyes, and the Prophet, overwhelmed with remorse, retired to his room, lay down and stared desperately at nothing for half an hour. He then ate, with a very poor appetite, a morsel of dinner and prepared to take, if possible, a short nap before starting on the labours of the night. As he got up from the dining table to go upstairs he said to Mr. Ferdinand,—
“By the way, Mr. Ferdinand, if I should come into the pantry again to-night, don’t be alarmed. I may chance to require a bradawl as I did last night. Kindly leave one out, in case I should. But you need not sit up.”
As the Prophet said the last words he looked Mr. Ferdinand full in the face. The butler’s eyes fell.
“Thank you, Master Hennessey, I shall be glad to get to bed—entirely to bed—in good time. We are all a bit upset in the kit—that is the hall to-day.”
“Just so. Retire to rest at once if you like.”
“Thank you, sir.”