“We’ll talk that over later. At present I must go and see Mother.”
“But you’re not going to back out of it—you’re not going to leave us in the lurch.”
“I hope I shan’t leave anybody in the lurch,” he replied rather irritably, “but there are lots of more important things than that to settle now. Where is Mother, Jenny?”
“She’s upstairs in Father’s dressing-room.”
She noticed that he looked very white and tired, and realised that he must have been travelling for the greater part of the night.
“Are you hungry, dear? Won’t you eat something before you go up?”
“No thank you—I don’t want anything to eat. But might I have a cup of tea?”
“Speller’s making that upstairs, so come along.”
They were halfway up, and had drawn a little ahead of Doris, when he bent to her and whispered—
“Does Stella know?”