She gave him her stingiest “Yis.”
“Mr. Easton asked me to meet you in his place, and explain.”
“He is not coming?”
“He can’t. He is ill. A bad cold only. He has a letter for you. Have you one for him?”
Marie Louise liked this man even less than she would have liked Nicky himself. She was alarmed, and showed it. The stranger said:
“I am Mr. von Gröner, a frient of––of Nicky’s.”
Marie Louise vibrated between shame and terror. But von Gröner’s credentials were good; it was surely Nicky’s hand that had penned the lines on the envelope. She took it reluctantly and gave him the letter she carried.
She hastened home. Sir Joseph was in a sad flurry, but he accepted the testimony of Nicky’s autograph.
The next day Marie Louise must go on another errand. This time her envelope bore the name of Nicky and the added line, “Kindness of Mr. von Gröner.”