"Your man will look after your traps, I suppose?" said Sir John,
hospitably drawing the fur rug from the opposite seat.
"Yes," replied Guy, "although he is not my man. He is Jack's man,
Joseph."
"Ah, of course; excellent servant, too. Jack told me he had left
him with you."
Sir John leant out of the window and asked the footman whether he
knew his colleague Joseph, and upon receiving an answer in the
affirmative he gave orders--acting as Guy's mouthpiece--that the
luggage was to be conveyed to Russell Square. While these orders
were being executed the two men sat waiting in the carriage, and Sir
John lost no time.
"I am glad," he said, "to have this opportunity of thanking you for
all your kindness to my son in this wild expedition of yours."
"Yes," replied Oscard, with a transparent reserve which rather
puzzled Sir John.
"You must excuse me," said the old gentleman, sitting rather
stiffly, "if I appear to take a somewhat limited interest in this
great Simiacine discovery, of which there has been considerable talk
in some circles. The limit to my interest is drawn by a lamentable
ignorance. I am afraid the business details are rather
unintelligible to me. My son has endeavoured, somewhat cursorily
perhaps, to explain the matter to me, but I have never mastered the-
-er--commercial technicalities.
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