CHAPTER XXIV
It was Tydvil's fate, however, not to witness the morning awakening of his guests. Though he, himself, awoke much later than usual, from his personal inspection of the men, and from the reports of the maids on the others, none of them seemed inclined to awake, much less to get up. So Tydvil breakfasted alone, telling the maid who attended him that he doubted if any of the visitors would care to breakfast; but recommended that the cook should prepare large quantities of coffee--black.
But it was after ten o'clock when he reached his office, a departure from normal that Miss Brand added to her other evidence of Tydvil's recent peculiar behaviour. She and Billy Brewer had taken advantage of Tydvil's delayed appearance to discuss many things, though much was purely personal; bec
