"Why did you want to see me, by the by ?" "What happened last night ?" Phipps asked a little abruptly.
"I obeyed orders," Dredlinton told him.

"I told her ladyship that I should be home to dinner and probably bring some friends.

I was a little late but she waited." Phipps smiled maliciously.
"She didn't dine with Wingate, then, or go to the theatre ?" "She did not," Dredlinton replied.

"I put the kibosh on it, according to orders." Peter Phipps pushed the cigars across the desk towards his companion.
"Try one of these before you enter upon the labours of the day," he invited, "and just see what you think of these figures." Dredlinton glanced at the papers carelessly at first and then with genuine interest.

They were certainly sufficiently surprising to rouse him for a moment from his apathy.
"Marvellous!" he exclaimed.
"Marvellous indeed," his Chief assented.