An' I should like to see
him--the guv'nor--at once if he'll see me."
The footman chuckled again.
"He'll see you all right. He's been wantin' of you all day, and he'd have
been that dreadful disapp'inted if you 'adn't come. Always awful particular
about his clothes, you know, so mind you're jolly careful about the
measuring 'cause this overcoat will have to last him a long time."
Taking his cue from these words Noy, still ignorant of the truth, made
answer: "Iss, I'll measure en all right. Wheer is he to?"
"In the studio--there you are, right ahead. Knock at that baize door and
then walk straight in, 'cause he'll very likely be too much occupied to
answer you. He's quite alone--leastways I believe so. I'll come back in
quarter'n hour; and mind you don't talk no secrets or tell him how I
laughed at him behind his back, else he'd give me the sack for certain."
The man withdrew, sniggering at his own humor, and Noy, quite unable to see
rhyme or reason in his remarks, stood with an expression of bewilderment
upon his broad face and watched the servant disappear. Then his countenance
changed, and he approached a door covered with red baize at which the
passage terminated. He knocked, waited, and knocked again, straining his
ear to hear the voice he had labored so long to silence. Then he put his
revolver into the side pocket of his coat, and, afterward, following the
footman's directions, pushed open the swing door, which yielded to his
hand.
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