CHAPTER VIIOn returning to the flat just before lunchtime on the following morning, after a few confirmatory researches in Balham and the neighbourhood of Victoria Station, Lord Peter was greeted at the door by Mr. Bunter (who had gone straight home from Waterloo), with a telephone message and a severe and nursemaidlike eye.
“Lady Swaffham rang me up, my lord, and said she hoped your lordship had not forgotten you were lunching with her.”
“I have forgotten, Bunter, and I mean to forget, I trust you told her I had succumbed to lethargic encephalitis suddenly, no flowers by request.”
“Lady Swaffham said, my lord, she was counting on you. She met the Duchess of Denver yesterday——”
“If my sister-in-law's there I won't go, that's flat,” said Lord Peter.
“I beg your pardon, my lord, the Dow
