“ Mr. Lomax, my lord, has already caught sight of your lordship when driving up the drive.”

Lord Caterham sighed deeply.

“He would. Very well, Tredwell, I am coming.”

In a manner highly characteristic, Lord Caterham was always most genial when his feelings were in reality the reverse. He greeted George now with a heartiness quite unparallelled.

“My dear fellow, my dear fellow. Delighted to see you. Absolutely delighted. Sit down. Have a drink. Well, well, this is splendid!”

And having pushed George into a large armchair, he sat down opposite him and blinked nervously.

“I wanted to see you very particularly,” said George.