Jimmy's eyes were gleaming.
"How does the old place look?" he asked eagerly. "Gad! don't I wish I'd got enough money to buy it myself. You've no idea what a ripping fine time we used to have there years ago."
"I'm sure you did; but—well, as a matter of fact, I believe the house is sold."
"Sold!"
"Yes; a man named Kettering—a friend of your brother's, I believe—is negotiating for it, at any rate. Whether the purchase is really completed or not, I——"
"Kettering!" Jimmy's voice sounded angry. "Kettering—that stuck-up ass!" he said savagely.
Sangster laughed.
"I shouldn't have described him as stuck-up at all," he said calmly.
"He struck me as being an extremely nice sort of fellow."
"Was he there, then?"
"Yes—he's staying somewhere in the neighbourhood temporarily, I believe, from what I heard; at any rate, he seemed very friendly with—with your wife and Miss Leighton."