'This girl,' he thought, 'is going to the house still, and Hilary will
let things drift till he can't stop them, and there'll be a real mess.'
The fact of the man's having been in prison gave a sinister turn to
an affair regarded hitherto as merely sordid by Stephen's orderly and
careful mind.
Crossing the garden, he heard Mr. Stone's voice issuing through the open
window.
'Can't the old crank stop even on Sundays?' he thought.
He found Hilary in his study, reading a book on the civilisation of the
Maccabees, in preparation for a review. He gave Stephen but a dubious
welcome.
Stephen broke ground gently.
"We haven't seen you for an age. I hear our old friend at it. Is he
working double tides to finish his magnum opus? I thought he observed
the day of rest."
"He does as a rule," said Hilary.
"Well, he's got the girl there now dictating."
Hilary winced. Stephen continued with greater circumspection "You
couldn't get the old boy to finish by Wednesday, I suppose? He must be
quite near the end by now."
The notion of Mr. Stone's finishing his book by Wednesday procured a
pale smile from Hilary.
"Could you get your Law Courts," he said, "to settle up the affairs of
mankind for good and all by Wednesday?"
"By Jove! Is it as bad as that? I thought, at any rate, he must be
meaning to finish some day.
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