He reached out across the table to pick up the small brass bell which was put out for every meal by his butler simply because the old bells in The Castle were all in such a bad state of rust that they were useless.
As the sound of the bell seemed to fill the whole room by the way the Earl was shaking it, the butler came hurrying to his side.
“You rang, my Lord.”
“It is later than I thought,” the Earl remarked. “I have a man called Forest who is coming here to look at the ballroom. I want to see him as soon as he arrives.”
“But then you have hardly finished your breakfast,” Lady Carisford protested.
“I am not as hungry as I was when I first sat down,” the Earl replied. “I always believe in first things first. I will see you later and you must tell me what time you are leaving.”
He
