Mad Barbara by Warwick Deeping

Mr. Pepys looked very glum when John Gore told him over their wine that he could go no farther into the county of Sussex. The business between my Lord Montague and the Secretary to the Admiralty had been thrashed out confidentially in my lord's private parlor in the Abbey the day after the adventurous return from Thorn. Mr. Pepys was ready for the Portsmouth road, and could not or would not be brought to understand for the moment John Gore's humor in deserting him thus suddenly. The sea-captain would only hint at a reason, and Mr. Pepys's curiosity was piqued to the extreme limit of good temper. He even suggested rather pointedly that Mistress Green Stays might be to blame, but John Gore looked so grim at the innuendo that Mr. Pepys pushed his pleasantries no further.

"Well, John," he said, at last, like a man of sense, "let each dog follow his own nose. I gather that you have affairs that need careful watching, and a friend should be able to respect a friend's privacy. If you have any winks to give me, John, let me have them that I may not blab anything that will rouse your wrath."