To hear the hansoms slurring
Once more through London mud!"
He walked to the window and gazed down on the stream of cars, their dark paint gleaming in the lamplight as they glided down Pall Mall from the Carlton and hummed richly up St. James's Street or disappeared into the silence of the Park.
"I'm going to have a long night in a real bed," he announced, "as distinct from either a berth or bare boards in a tent——"
"I can give you all that in Princes Gardens," I interrupted.
"Later, old man, if I may. I've sent my baggage to the Charing Cross Hotel. To-morrow I shall call on Loring, see who else is in town——"
His words brought me face to face with the problem I had been shirking all the evening.
"I wrote you a letter to-night before dinner," I said as we walked down to the hall. "I'll post it so that it reaches you to-morrow morning. Raney, I'm afraid you won't care much about the contents."
He raised his eyebrows in surprise.
"Why not give it me now?" he asked.