Do come home!" Cotherstone let out an exclamation which signified annoyance.

The event of the late afternoon had completely driven it out of his recollection that Windle Bent had an old school-friend, a young barrister from London, staying with him, and that both had been asked to supper that evening at Cotherstone's house.

But Cotherstone's annoyance was not because of his own forgetfulness, but because his present abstraction made him dislike the notion of company.
"I'd forgotten--for the moment," he called.

"I've been very busy.

All right, Lettie--I'm coming on at once.