"You gave her ladyship my message?"
"Yes, m'lord."
"Did she say anything?"
"Her ladyship said she would wait, my lord, as she had something very important to tell your lordship."
"Ah," Gage said knowingly. "Did she wait long?"
"Her ladyship and Miss Buffkin are in the drawing-room, my lord."
The cigarette fell from Gage's parted lips, thrust out by a profane charge which exploded behind it.
"In the——" he turned helplessly to Peckover.
"Percival, old man, they're waiting for us," he gasped.
"Anybody else?" Peckover inquired of Bisgood, with a vision of a pair of terrific eyes backed by a bald head and set off in front by a long nose and a gleaming revolver barrel.