At the sight of Lady Wetherby his
nervousness began to diminish. Lady Wetherby was not a formidable
person. In spite of her momentary peevishness, she brought with
her an atmosphere of geniality and camaraderie.
'It's about your monkey,' he said, coming to the point at once.
Lady Wetherby brightened.
'Oh! Have you seen it?'
He was glad that she put it like that.
'Yes. It came round our way last night.'
'Where is that?'
'I am staying at a farm near here, a place they call Flack's. The
monkey got into one of the rooms.'
'Yes?'
'And then--er--then it got out again, don't you know.'
Lady Wetherby looked disappointed.
'So it may be anywhere now?' she said.
In the interests of truth, Bill thought it best to leave this
question unanswered.
'Well, it's very good of you to have bothered to come out and tell
me,' said Lady Wetherby. 'It gives us a clue, at any rate. Thank
you. At least, we know now in which direction it went.'
There was a pause. Bill gathered that the other was looking on the
interview as terminated, and that she was expecting him to go, and
he had not begun to say what he wanted to say. He tried to think
of a way of introducing the subject of Claire that should not seem
too abrupt.
'Er--' he said.
'Well?' said Lady Wetherby, simultaneously.
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