Tony nodded. "Guy is wonderful," he began. "Since he came to live with me——"
He was interrupted by the reappearance of Spalding, who entered the room carrying a tray full of silver dishes which sent up various appetizing odours into the morning air.
Isabel contemplated the feast with frank interest.
"What a good breakfast!" she observed. "Do you always have a breakfast like this?"
"Always," replied Tony firmly. "I find my constitution requires it."
He walked across to the sideboard, where Spalding had set out the dishes, and lifting up their covers in turn announced the results to Isabel.
She selected mushroom omelette as a starting point, and after helping himself lightly to the same delicacy, Tony sat down alongside of her at the gate-legged table.
"Well," he said, "and what's the report? Has Mrs. Spalding made you comfortable?"
Isabel nodded gratefully. "Yes," she said; "she has been so pleasant and kind. She didn't seem to mind in the least my coming in like that in the middle of the night, and this morning she had a cup of tea and a lovely hot bath all ready for me when I woke up." She paused. "I don't know what I should have done last night if it hadn't been for you," she added with a sudden slight return to her former shyness.
"Oh, you would have been all right," said Tony cheerfully. "Somebody else would have come along and knocked those interfering gentlemen down for you. London is full of obliging strangers. We just had the good luck to be the first—that was all."