" Not a cupboard!"
"No, that is the what you call eet — leetle back stairs. For fire, you know."
"God!" said Grant, and made for the door.
"Where does it come out — the stairway?" he called back to the waiter.
"In the passage to the front hall."
"Eight flights," Grant said to Sanger. "Lift's quicker, perhaps." He rang. "Williams will stop him if he tries to go out by the door," he said, searching for comfort.
"Williams has never seen him, sir. At least I don't think so."
Grant used words he had forgotten since he stopped campaigning in France.
"Does the man on duty at the back back know him?"
"Oh, yes, sir. That's what he's there for, to stop him. But Sergeant Williams was just waiting for us."