“That’s—wait a bit! that’s Eric Lane’s voice. Am I right?”
“First shot. You’re marvellous, Raney.”
“It’s patience, you know. And I’ve been thinking about you a lot lately. How’s the patient? Lady John Carstairs told me of your troubles. I wanted you to come and have a shake-down with us, but she said you preferred to stay where you were. I hear the operation went off all right.”
“Oh, yes. She’s out of danger, I’m glad to say.”
“So Gaymer told me. It all happened within a few hours of our coming up from Croxton, apparently.”
“Yes.”
Eric wondered when and why O’Rane had been talking to Gaymer, but his speculation was cut short by a question:
“By the way, is it true...? I heard an interesting piece of news about you.”
“Oh?”
“I heard you were engaged.”