“You didn’t say anything about it yesterday.”

“My dove, had I a chance to do so?  Had we a single moment together?  And you know how I was when we reached home, don’t you?...  You see, I always had a secretary at the Treasury, and I feel sort of lost without one.  So I—­”

“But, darling, of course!  I always believe in letting you do exactly as you like.  It’s the only way....  Au revoir, my pet.  Charlie will be frightfully angry with me.”  And then, at the door:  “If she hasn’t got anything to do she can always see to the flowers for me.  Perhaps when I come back you’ll introduce us.”

As soon as he had heard the bang of the front-door Mr. Prohack rang his bell.

“Machin, I understand that my secretary is waiting in the dining-room.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Ask her to take her things off and then bring her up here.”

“Up here, sir?”

“That’s right.”

In seven movements of unimaginable stealthy swiftness Machin tidied the worst disorders of the room and departed.  Mr. Prohack continued his breakfast.

Miss Winstock appeared with a small portable typewriter in her arms and a notebook lodged on the typewriter.  She was wearing a smart black skirt and a smart white blouse with a high collar.  In her unsullied freshness of attire she somewhat resembled a stage secretary on a first night; she might have been mistaken for a brilliant imitation of a real secretary.

II

“Good morning.  So you’re come,” Mr. Prohack greeted her firmly.

“Good morning.  Yes, Mr. Prohack.”

“Well, put that thing down on a chair somewhere.”

Machin also had entered the room.  She handed a paper to Mr. Prohack.

“Mistress asked me to give you that, sir.”

It was a lengthy description, typewritten, of a house in Manchester Square.

“Pass me those matches, please,” said Mr. Prohack to Mimi when they were alone.  “By the way, why wouldn’t you give your name when you arrived?”

“Because I didn’t know what it was.”

“Didn’t know what it was?”

“When I told you my Christian name yesterday you said it wouldn’t do at all, and I was never to mention it again.  In the absence of definite instructions about my surname I thought I had better pursue a cautious policy of waiting.  I’ve told the chauffeur that he will know my name in due course and that until I tell him what it is he mustn’t know it.  I was not sure whether you would wish the members of your household to know that I’m the person who had a collision with your car.  Mrs. Prohack and I were both in a state of collapse after the accident, and I was removed before she could see me.  Therefore she did not recognise me this morning.  But on the other hand she has no doubt heard my name often enough since the accident and would recognise that.”