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 CHAPTER XVI

IN WHICH THE MOUNTAIN COMES TO MAHOMET

Mr. Philip found an imperious mandate from Grosvenor Square had been laid beside his silver cigar-box when he returned to the Albany at a quarter past two by the morning. It ran:—

"Dear Philip,—Your father desires to see you most particularly upon important business at ten o'clock to-morrow morning.

"Your loving Mother."

"She means this mornin', and I shan't be up if I don't go to bed soon," said the heir to the barony, sitting down before the remains of the fire to consider the situation in all its bearings.

The melancholy consequence was that not all the King's horses and not all the King's men, including the young man's body servant, were able to wake him until a few minutes before eleven, in spite of the fact that a special messenger had been round from the Home Department.

If, however, Mahomet declines to move, it is time