He reached it in a moment or two, but left it at once by another entrance.

Within ten minutes he was back at his office.
"Has any one been, Halsey ?" "No one, sir," the clerk answered.
"You will be so good," Laverick continued, "as to forget that I have returned." He passed on quickly into his own room and made his way into the small closet where he kept his coat and washed his hands.

He had scarcely been there a minute when he heard voices in the outside hall.

The door of his office was opened.
"Mr.Laverick said nothing about an appointment at this hour," he heard Halsey protest in a somewhat deprecating tone.
"He had, perhaps, forgotten," was the answer, in a totally unfamiliar voice.

"At any rate, I am not in a great hurry.