IT WAS the ringing of the telephone bell that woke him. He rolled over on the bed and took down the receiver.
“Hullo!” he said, in genuine surprise. “Your voice was the last in the world I expected to hear.”
There was a little laugh at the other end of the phone.
“You recognized it? That’s rather clever of you. I came down to see you half an hour ago, but the hall porter was certain that you were not in.”
“Is anything wrong?” he asked quickly.
There was a little hesitancy.
“N-no,” said Sybil Lansdown. “Only I wanted to—consult with you. That is the technical term, isn’t it?”
“Come along by all means. I will mollify the porter.”
She did not know why the porter should need mollification until she arrived. He had had no time to shave, to do any more than jump in and out of the bath, a
