no doubt thought they would be welcome enough, even for bachelors'
rooms.

"Tell him I will take them."

"But the price, sir?"

"Ask him his price; beat him down; and keep the difference."

After bath and breakfast there was an enormous pile of correspondence
awaiting him; for not a single letter referring to his own affairs had
been forwarded to him for over two months. He had thrown his entire time
and care into his work in the North. And now that these arrears had to
be cleared off, he attacked the business with an obvious impatience.
Formerly he had been used to dawdle over his letters, getting through a
good portion of the forenoon with them and conversations with Waters
about Buckinghamshire news. Now, even with that omniscient factotum by
his side, his progress was slow, simply because he was hurried. He made
dives here and there, without system, without settlement. At last,
looking at his watch, he jumped up; it was half-past eleven.

"Some other time, Waters--some other time; the man must wait," he said
to the astonished but patient person beside him. "If Lord Evelyn calls,
tell him I shall look in at the Century to-night."

"Yes, sir."

Some half-hour thereafter he was standing in Park Lane, his heart
beating somewhat quickly, his eyes fixed eagerly on two figures that
were crossing the thoroughfare lower down to one of the gates leading