THIRTY-FOUR
They lie as a matter of course.
‘You said you wanted to see me, Father?’ the Honourable Gerard said after he had been shown into the study and Brindley had closed the door behind him.
‘Yes Gerard, I do. A most important, and distasteful, matter has come up,’ replied Sir Ralph.
‘Well, if I can help,’ Gerard drawled, screwing an Abdullah cigarette into an ivory holder and lighting it, blowing a stream of bored smoke up to the ceiling. He felt a slight twinge of apprehension, something was up, he could see that from the set of the old man’s sour face. Mind you, he looked like that most of the time, humourless old duffer, but it could be nothing serious, Gerard was quite sure of that, convinced that the girl was too frightened to say anything. And if she had, who would take her
