When I came downstairs I found Maurice waiting for me in the hall. It struck me again that there was a kind of suppressed satisfaction in his manner, but I put it down as being very probably due to my imagination. In my present state of mind, it was easy to discover suspicious symptoms in everyone.
"By the way," he said carelessly, as the door closed behind us, "do you want to get another man permanently, or just to fill Milford's place while he's seedy?"
"Oh, only for the time, of course," I said. "I couldn't part with Milford."
He nodded. "That will be quite easy. Seagrave's can always turn you in a temporary man. You'd better leave it to them."
I was about to observe that such was my intention, when a passing motor suddenly drew up with a jerk alongside of us, and a good-looking, elderly man in a grey top-hat put his head out of the window.
"Hullo, Northcote," he said; "you're the very man I wanted to see."
This was flattering; but as I hadn't the remotest idea who he was, I felt slightly embarrassed.
Maurice, however, unintentionally solved my difficulty. "Good morning, Lord Lammersfield," he remarked. "I hope Lady Lammersfield is better?"
His lordship paid no great attention to Maurice's kind inquiry. He nodded coldly, and observed that her ladyship was "about the same." I took a fancy to him at once.
"I can see you at any time you like," I said, truthfully enough.