* * * leaning back in his chair , ian listened to larimore 's irate summation of the wild and fruitless chase he 'd been sent on for two days by lady thornton and her butler : `` and after all that , `` larimore flung out in high dudgeon , `` i returned to the house on promenade street to demand the butler allow me past the stoop , only to have the man- '' `` slam the door in your face ? ''