The whole party had assembled in the porch to see me off.
"You'll come back, Stuart, if you possibly can," said Aunt Mary.
I felt rather a scoundrel, though it really wasn't my fault.
"Why, of course," I said cheerily. "Miss York has promised to teach me tennis. You don't think I am going to miss such a chance."
"You might ring up Maurice at his rooms and come down with him to-morrow," she suggested.
I nodded. "That's a good idea," I said, "if he'll trust himself to the motor. Well, good-bye, everybody."
I shook hands with them all except Lady Baradell, who was standing by the trap patting the horse's neck. As I stepped out and the butler put my bags in, she came up to me.
"Good-bye, Stuart," she said, in a low voice. "Will you do a little commission for me?"
"Certainly," I said.
With a quick movement, she handed me a scrap of folded paper. "You'll find it there," she whispered. Then, as she gave me her hand, she added aloud some laughing remark apparently for the benefit of the others.