He stood up with a grin of friendly recognition when he saw Appleyard.
"Morning, sir," he said.

"Letter from Mr.Allerdyke for you.

No answer, but I was to wait till you'd read it." Appleyard opened the note there and then.

It was a mere hurried scrawl, saying that Allerdyke was just setting off for Hull, in obedience to a call from the police; as Gaffney had nothing to do, would Appleyard make use of him during Allerdyke's absence?
Appleyard bade Gaffney wait a while, went into his office, ran through his correspondence, gave the morning's orders out to the warehouseman, and called the chauffeur inside.
"Gaffney," he said as he carefully closed the door on them, "you're a Londoner, aren't you ?" Gaffney smiled widely.
"Ought to be, Mr.Appleyard," he answered.

"I was born within sound of Bow Bells, anyhow.