“What’s the good? She’d be after me again at once.” “Not at once,” said Lord Manton. “I think I can arrange to give you a good long start. Wilkins will go back and ask her to be good enough to remain where she is for a few minutes. You could tell her, Wilkins, that Mr. Goddard is engaged with me at present, discussing very important business, but that he’ll be with her in less than a quarter of an hour. You could do that, Wilkins, couldn’t you?” “Yes, my lord.” “Then Mr. Goddard could get out of the house and walk across the deer park. You could run if you like, Goddard, keeping carefully out of sight of the drawing-room windows. After a time, say at the end of half an hour, Miss Blow will begin to get impatient. What do you suppose she’ll do when she gets impatient, Wilkins?” “I’d say, my lord, that’s she’s likely to ring the bell.” “Exactly. That’s what I thought myself. I suppose, Wilkins, that you could arrange for the under housemaid to go to her when she rings.” “Yes, my lord.” “And the under housemaid would, of course, know nothing about Mr. Goddard. What would the under housemaid do, Wilkins, when she was asked about Mr. Goddard, and knew nothing about him?” “I’d say, my lord, that she’d tell the young lady she’d go to make inquiries.” “Quite so. She’d be sure to do that. But she needn’t go back again to Miss Blow. She could resume her interrupted duties. She could start off under-housemaiding again at the place she left off when Miss Blow rang the bell. I presume that, after a decent interval, say a quarter of an hour, Miss Blow would ring the bell again; this time the upper housemaid could go to her. That could be arranged, I suppose, Wilkins?” “Certainly, my lord.” “She, of course, would know nothing about Mr. Goddard; but she would promise to go and make inquiries. She would then get back to her upper-housemaiding and completely forget about Miss Blow. After another interval, this time probably a shorter one, say ten minutes, Miss Blow would ring the bell again. Then the cook could go to her, and, of course----” “Beg pardon, my lord, but the cook wouldn’t go.” “Couldn’t you arrange it, Wilkins?” “No, my lord; it’s not the cook’s place to answer bells.” “I forgot that,” said Lord Manton. “It was stupid of me. I should have remembered. I’m afraid, Wilkins, that you’d have to go yourself the third time. You would tell her that Mr. Goddard had left the house an hour before. It would be about an hour, wouldn’t it, Wilkins?” “As near as I can go to it, it would be about that, my lord.” “After that I should recommend you to leave the room at once, Wilkins. You can stay if you like and see what happens, but I rather recommend you to leave at once.” “Yes, my lord.” “Very well. That gives you a clear hour’s start, Goddard. You’d better be off at once.” “Where am I to go to?”