Somehow I didn't tell her I'd had one at the Club. You might have done differently perhaps, but—well, the little lady was beaming hospitality; was it for me to stifle her generous intentions? I thought not.
I went upstairs and splashed manfully.
For the third time that day I dressed; then I went downstairs and found Johnston.
"Hello," he said. "Been having a bath? Good!"
I stiffened perceptibly at "good."
We chatted a little while, then I breathed my sincere thanks and left them.
My arrival at the Fergusons' was rather early, somewhere about seven-thirty. I was shown into the drawing-room while the maid went to inform Mrs. Ferguson of my arrival. In two minutes she returned.
"Will you come this way, Sir?" she said.
I went that way.
Ten minutes later I emerged from Ferguson's bath and walked into his dressing-room. Ferguson had arrived.