"I wonder what's the matter?" said Merle.
"I don't know. Somebody dead, I suppose, and we haven't heard yet. I hope it's not the King! Shall I ask?"
"Yes, do. Ask that old man!"
"Oh, I daren't! You do!"
Merle, having more courage with strangers, made the necessary inquiry. The blue-jerseyed individual whom she addressed pulled his pipe from his mouth and grunted a reply:
"It's General Talland as is gone. There was a telegram come this morning from the West Indies. He was only sixty-one. He ought to a' been good for another ten year or more."
"They do say the climate is awful over there," chimed one of the loungers, quite willing to discuss the event.
"Ay! He should a' stayed in his native air!"
Other listeners had strolled up and began to give their opinions.
"I don't hold with foreign parts myself."