"Is Mr. Logan in?" I asked.

She shook her head.

"When will he be back?" I asked.

She shook her head again. "I dunno," she observed.

I repressed a strong inclination to swear. "I am a friend of his," I explained patiently. "I sent him a telegram this afternoon to say I was coming. Didn't he get it?"

"No," she replied; "'e didn't get no telergram."

"But it must have come," I objected. "I sent it off."

"Oh, it come all right," she said. "The telergram come all right, sir. I put it in 'is lookin'-glass. Only 'e ain't bin back not since yesterday."

"That's a nuisance," I observed. "Can I come in and write him a letter?"

She blinked doubtfully. "I dunno as 'ow 'e'd like it."