Gray walked forward and picked up the receiver.
"Hullo!" he observed encouragingly.
"Hullo!" came the answer. "That you, Colin?"
"Of course it's me."
"Mark speaking—Mark Ashton. Are you engaged for lunch?"
"Not if I can get any one else to pay for it," was the candid reply.
"Well, how would you like to come along and feed with me at the Savoy Grill?"
"I've no particular objection. What's the matter? Have you come into money?"
There was a chuckle at the other end of the wire.
"Nothing like that. Just a sudden thirst for your society."