The boy got on his machine and rode away. Mr. Nash read that telegram again, then stuffed it into his jacket pocket, swearing beneath his breath. He looked quite ugly when he swore. He glanced at his watch, as if to make sure about the time, then returned to his place upon the doorstep. He said nothing about the telegram to his wife. CHAPTER XXVI AN OFFER OF FRIENDSHIP Mr. Nash was at the station when the 12.28 came in, and alone; it might have been by some sort of coincidence that he happened to be there just then, but Mr. Morgan seemed to take it for granted that he had come to meet him, an inference which Mr. Nash apparently resented. Mr. Morgan came up to him smiling in the most friendly fashion, and with hand held out. "My dear Nash, how are you?" There was no smile on Mr. Nash's face, and he ignored the proffered hand. "Thank you, Mr. Morgan, I am well." "And my good friend, your dear wife? blooming, eh?" "I'm not aware that Mrs. Nash ever was a friend of yours." "No! my dear fellow! when we were so often under the same roof together." "Do the servants of a house always regard their master's friends as their own?" "My dear Nash, if you hadn't said that I should have said it was meant to be nasty. I was in the service of the head of the house, and your wife was a sort of attendant of the daughter's. "Do you dare to say that my wife was ever Miss Lindsay's attendant?" "Unpaid attendant, my boy, unpaid; sort of hanger-on--poor companion. I received a regular income; she got an occasional frock; some article of clothing; now and then a few pounds; as it were, the crumbs which fell from Miss Lindsay's table. Of course, pecuniarily mine was much the better position of the two; but I always have been one to overlook a mere financial difference, and I hope I always shall be." "Look here, Morgan, if you're come down with the express intention of being insolent, I'll wring your neck, here, in the station." Mr. Nash looked as if he were capable of at least trying to perform that operation on Mr. Morgan there and then, but Mr. Morgan only smiled. "My dear Nash! the idea! Nothing can be further from my wish than to be insolent to you; as I'll show you before I've done. Where can we go where we can be quiet, and have a little chat together? And afterwards if you'll take me to 37, Ocean Villas, and offer me a little lunch, and give me an opportunity of renewing my acquaintance with your charming wife, I think you'll find that we are on better terms than you seem to suppose. Where are you going?" Mr. Nash was striding out of the station. "To the golf-links; you say you want to go somewhere where we can be quiet; you'll have the quietude you want there."