"You must have had formulæ," she persisted.
"Well, yes," he agreed; "perhaps you think they extended to eight volumes of manuscript bound in morocco. You poor little woman, it would be a bad thing for colour-makers if trade secrets were not more easily carried than all that comes to. Look," and taking out his pocket-book he handed her a couple of sheets of note-paper, "every receipt of mine worth having is written down there; they are all clear enough to me, though if I lost them to-morrow they would prove Greek to any other person."
"Could you explain them to me?" she asked.
"Not now, dear," he answered, "I feel very tired; I think I could go to sleep." Which utterance proved the commencement of another relapse; but Dolly was not dismayed, on the contrary she wrote the very next day to Lang and said,
"Whenever Mr. Mortomley is well enough to leave town we shall go to a cottage I have taken in Hertfordshire. _All the special colours can now be made without difficulty._ There is a barn near the cottage which may be rented."
That was sufficient for Lang. Within a week he had got leave of absence, and was on his way back to England. He saw the barn, he measured up its size, he made out a list of the articles necessary, and received sufficient money from Mrs. Mortomley to pay for them.
He tried to get a fresh order from the firm that had wanted the new blue, but Mr. Miller shook his head.
"We have had enough of dealing with Mr. Mortomley at second-hand," he said, "when he is in a position to come to us and enter into an arrangement personally, possibly we may be able to do business." Which was just--though he did not know it--as if he had said, "When Mr. Mortomley has been to the moon and comes back again, we will resume negotiations with him."
"However, there is a trade to be done, ma'am," said Lang confidently, "and when I have finished my job, which will be in six weeks, I am thankful to say, for I am sick of the place and of those outlandish foreigners who can talk nothing but gibberish, we will do it."
"We shall have to be content with small beginnings though," suggested Mrs. Mortomley, whose views were indeed of the most modest description.
"And then at the end of a twelvemonth we shall not be ashamed to count our profits," agreed Lang, and he left assuring Dolly that his stay among the "mounseers," as he styled all persons who had not been privileged to first see the light in Great Britain, would be short as he could make it.