"How jolly!" he observed. "What have you done with them?"
"I have shown them into the library, Sir Antony."
Tony got up from his chair and pulled down his coat.
"Do I look respectable, Spalding?" he asked. "I shouldn't like to receive such distinguished visitors with any suggestion of slovenliness."
Spalding inspected him carefully, and then stepping forward removed a small piece of white thread from the knee of his trousers.
"There is nothing the matter now, Sir Antony," he replied.
Tony walked leisurely up the steps into the house, and crossing the morning-room and the hall, opened the door of the library.
Da Freitas and the Count, both irreproachably dressed in frock coats, were standing on the hearth-rug.
"Hulloa, Marquis!" observed Tony. "This is awfully nice of you to come and look me up. A sort of burying of the pugilistic hatchet, eh?"
With an affable bow the Marquis accepted his proffered hand.