‘What was that?’

‘Charles Martin’s papers.’ Grant flipped them with his finger-tip where they lay on the desk. ‘They are covered with Lloyd’s prints. They never think of everything.’

15

‘You look like a bridegroom,’ Sergeant Williams said in great satisfaction, pump-handling Grant on Monday morning.

‘Well, I’d better go and have rice thrown at me, I suppose. How is the old man’s rheumatism this morning?’

‘Oh, fairly good, I think.’

‘What is he smoking? A pipe? Or cigarettes?’

‘Oh, a pipe.’

‘Then I’d better go in while the barometer is still high.’

In the passage he encountered Ted Hanna.