It was almost purple.

Never had his eyes protruded so far from his head.
He stopped and said thickly: "How long were they in the pavilion ?" "In the pavilion, your lordship?
They were there a longish while--an hour and a half maybe," said William Roper, with quiet pride in the impression his information had made on his employer.
His employer looked at him as if it was the dearest wish of his heart to shake the life out of him then and there.

It _was_ the dearest wish of his heart.

But he refrained.

It would be a senseless act to slay the goose which lay these golden eggs of information.
"All right.