“Yes, and that’s no wonder; I played many a prank here in my boyhood. But you, sir, who are you? An adjutant of the Colonel’s, or a protégé of Francis’s?”
“I think I have the best right to question you, and to ask who you are?”
“That’s true enough; and I would tell you with pleasure, but it’s a secret which concerns others besides myself. Call me Mr. Smithson—it’s the name I am known by at present.”
“Very well. Now what is your business here, Mr. Smithson?”
“I wish you to tell Francis I am here.”
“Do you think the news will be agreeable to her?” I demanded.
“I cannot say, but she will come all the same.”
“Here, into my room?”
“Bah! our Major Frank is no prude.”
“Mr. Smithson, I give you fair warning that if you say a single word derogatory to the character of Miss Mordaunt, I shall instantly make you take the same way out of this room by which you entered it.”