'I was here more than an hour ago, and they said you were out.'
'I haven't been out of this room all day,--except to lunch. Good morning, Sir Felix. Ring the bell, Alfred, and we'll have a little soda and brandy.' Sir Felix had gone through some greeting with his fellow Director Lord Alfred, and at last succeeded in getting Melmotte to shake hands with him before he went. 'Do you know anything about that young fellow?' Melmotte asked as soon as the door was closed.
'He's a baronet without a shilling;--was in the army and had to leave it,' said Lord Alfred as he buried his face in a big tumbler.
'Without a shilling! I supposed so. But he's heir to a place down in Suffolk;--eh?'
'Not a bit of it. It's the same name, and that's about all. Mr Carbury has a small property there, and he might give it to me to-morrow. I wish he would, though there isn't much of it. That young fellow has nothing to do with it whatever.'
'Hasn't he now!' Mr Melmotte, as he speculated upon it, almost admired the young man's impudence.