Gaining the landing, he did not turn as usual to the door that shut off Chilcote’s rooms, but moved onward down the corridor towards Eve’s private sitting-room.  He moved slowly till the door was reached; then he, paused and lifted his hand.  There was a moment’s wait while his fingers rested on the handle; then a sensation he could not explain—­a reticence, a reluctance to intrude upon this one precinct—­caused his, fingers to relax.  With a slightly embarrassed gesture he drew back slowly and retraced his steps.

Once in Chilcote’s bedroom, he walked to the nearest bell and pressed it.  Renwick responded, and at sight of him Loder’s feelings warmed with the same sense of fitness and familiarity that the great bed and sombre furniture of the room had inspired.

But the man did not come forward as he had expected.  He remained close to the door with a hesitation that was unusual in a trained servant.  It struck Loder that possibly his stolidity had exasperated Chilcote, and that possibly Chilcote had been at no pains to conceal the exasperation.  The idea caused him to smile involuntarily.

“Come into the room, Renwick,” he said.  “It’s uncomfortable to see you standing there.  I want to know if Mrs. Chilcote has sent me any message about to-night.”

Renwick studied him furtively as he came forward.  “Yes, sir,” he said.  “Mrs. Chilcote’s maid said that the carriage was ordered for ten-fifteen, and she hoped that would suit you.”  He spoke reluctantly, as if expecting a rebuke.

At the opening sentence Loder had turned aside, but now, as the man finished, he wheeled round again and looked at him closely with his keen, observant eyes.

“Look here,” he said.  “I can’t have you speak to me like that.  I may come down on you rather sharply when my—­my nerves are bad; but when I’m myself I treat you—­well, I treat you decently, at any rate.  You’ll have to learn to discriminate.  Look at me now!” A thrill of risk and of rulership passed through him as he spoke.  “Look at me now!  Do I look as I looked this morning—­or yesterday?”

The man eyed him half stupidly, half timidly.

“Well?” Loder insisted.

“Well, sir,” Renwick responded, with some slowness; “you look the same—­and you look different.  A healthier color, perhaps, sir—­and the eye clearer.”  He grew more confident under Loder’s half-humorous, half-insistent gaze.  “Now that I look closer, sir—­”

Loder laughed.  “That’s it!” he said.  “Now that you look closer.  You’ll have to grow observant:  observation is an excellent quality in a servant.  Wheat you come into a room in future, look first of all at me—­and take your cue from that.  Remember that serving a man with nerves is like serving two masters.  Now you can go; and tell Mrs. Chilcote’s maid that I shall be quite ready at a quarter-past ten.”

“Yes, sir.  And after that?”

“Nothing further.  I sha’n’t want you again to-night.”  He turned away as he spoke, and moved towards the great fire that was always kept alight in Chilcote’s room.  But as the man moved towards the door he wheeled back again.  “Oh, one thing more, Renwick!  Bring me some sandwiches and a whiskey.”  He remembered for the first time that he had eaten nothing since early afternoon.