"Where is he?" boomed the voice. "Show me the old horse. First floor. Thank you. Where is the man of wrath?" There followed a crashing on the stairs such as even the young gentleman of the top floor had been unable to produce in his nocturnal rovings. The house shook. And with the tramping came the thunderous voice, as the visitor once more gave tongue. "Garnet! Garnet!! GARNET!!!" Garnet [17] [17] UKRIDGE'S SCHEME r. Stanley Featherstonhaugh Ukridge dashed into the room, uttering a roar of welcome as he caught sight of Garnet, still standing petrified athwart his portmanteau. "My dear old man," he shouted, springing at him and seizing his hand in a clutch that effectually woke Garnet from his stupor. "How are you, old chap? This is good. By Jove, this is good! This is fine, what?" He dashed back to the door and looked out. "Come on, Millie," he shouted. Garnet was wondering who in the name[18] of fortune Millie could possibly be, when there appeared on the further side of Mr. Ukridge the figure of a young woman. She paused in the doorway, and smiled pleasantly. [18] "Garnet, old horse," said Ukridge with some pride, "let me introduce you to my wife. Millie, this is old Garnet. You've heard me talk about him." "Oh, yes," said Mrs. Ukridge. Garnet bowed awkwardly. The idea of Ukridge married was something too overpowering to be assimilated on the instant. If ever there was a man designed by nature to be a bachelor, Stanley Ukridge was that man. Garnet could feel that he himself was not looking his best. He knew in a vague, impersonal way that his eyebrows were still somewhere in the middle of his forehead, whither they had sprung in the first moment of surprise, and that his jaw, which had dropped, had not yet resumed[19] its normal posture. Before committing himself to speech he made a determined effort to revise his facial expression.
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