“I never heard.”
“Have you never tried to find out?”
Roger looked at her, startled.
“It was before I was born,” said he. “Father never spoke of him. But why do you ask?”
“Only a girl’s curiosity. I thought, if any one knew, you would. But there is the bell for lunch.”
Armstrong meanwhile had been having an interview of a different kind. He strolled into Mr Pottinger’s office almost at the same time as that worthy lawyer himself.
“So you are back?” asked the latter.
“Yes, and quite at your service,” said the tutor. “I am afraid my absence has been inconvenient. But I am ready for business now. By the way, I have brought you back a document which must have been left on old Hodder by mistake. I certainly did not sanction it.”
The lawyer sat back in his chair and gazed at the tutor through his spectacles. Mr Armstrong, leaning against the chimney-piece, put up his glass and gazed leisurely back. The two men understood one another pretty well already.
“The notice is quite in order. I have Captain Oliphant’s instructions.”