"Well, here I am," said Colin. "Is there anything good to eat?"
"I'm makin' scones," replied Martha Jane. "Some o' them yaller ones, wot you gen'rally seems to fancy."
Colin stepped inside and deposited Mark's umbrella in the hat stand.
"You push off and continue the good work," he remarked. "I'll find my own way up."
Still grinning, Martha Jane closed the front door and shuffled along the passage toward the kitchen. Just as she disappeared there was a sound on the landing above and Mark's spectacled face protruded itself over the banisters.
"You've been a devil of a time coming," he observed. "We were beginning to think you must have had a breakdown."
"I like that!" retorted Colin, struggling out of his overcoat. "Here have I been chasing all round London after your infernal umbrella——"
"Oh, you've got it, have you?" interrupted Mark. "That's topping. You don't know how deeply indebted I am to you."
"Yes, I do," said Colin. "Exactly half-a-crown—what I had to give the cabman as a reward for his honesty."
Nancy's face appeared suddenly beside that of her employer and smiled down at him in friendly welcome.