Ernie turned down the hill, burning his white flare. The Captain's brutal insolence had gone home.
The Colonel reported the incident to his wife that evening.
"I could have struck the swine!" he said with unusual ferocity. "Conky Joe was right. He never was a white man. A piebald from birth, that feller."
Mrs. Lewknor churned the incident in her mind. It was a slur on the Regiment, and therefore a capital offence.
"What a cad!" she said. "Our dear Caspar too! Royal's the only officer in the Regiment would behave like that. Where's he stopping?"
"My dear, where would Royal stop?" said the Colonel. "The Hohenzollern—Third Floor—where Caspar's working."
He nodded his big head discreetly.
"How do you know?" asked Mrs. Lewknor, eyeing him.
"Trupp told me," replied the Colonel.
Ernie returned to the Hotel with his roses.