Shiela's maid answered his knock; a moment later, Shiela herself, gowned for the afternoon, came to the door, and her maid retired.
"Do you mind my stepping in a moment?" he asked.
She glanced back into her own bedroom, closed the door, and led the way to the small living-room at the other end of the house.
"Where's that maid of yours?" he asked.
"Sewing in my dressing-room. Shall I send her downstairs?"
"Yes; it's better."
So Shiela went away and returned shortly saying that her maid had gone; and then, with a questioning gesture to her husband, she seated herself by the open window and looked out into the sunshine, waiting for him to speak.
"Do you know," he said abruptly, "what saved Cardross, Carrick & Co. from going to the wall?"
"What?" The quick, crisp question sounded like the crack of a tiny whip.
He looked at her, languidly amused.