“Shall I—er—show him in, sir?”
His master nodded. When Knighton entered the room he found a charming and genial host awaiting him.
“Very good of you to look me up,” said Derek.
Knighton was nervous.
The other’s keen eyes noticed that at once. The errand on which the secretary had come was clearly distasteful to him. He replied almost mechanically to Derek’s easy flow of conversation. He declined a drink, and, if anything, his manner became stiffer than before. Derek appeared at last to notice it.
“Well,” he said cheerfully, “what does my esteemed father-in-law want with me? You have come on his business, I take it?”
Knighton did not smile in reply.
“I have, yes,” he said carefully. “I—I wish Mr. Van Aldin had chosen someone else.”
Derek raised his eyebrows in mock dismay.
“Is it as bad as all that? I am not very thin skinned, I can assure you, Knighton.”
“No,” said Knighton; “but this—”
He paused.
Derek eyed him keenly.
“Go on, out with it,” he said kindly. “I can imagine my dear father-in-law’s errands might not always be pleasant ones.”