"Do women come?"
"More women than men."
"I should like to speak at the meeting."
The Captain, with an uncomfortable flush, fumbled with the ribbon on his cap, and said nothing. Leighton repeated his request.
The Captain summoned up courage.
"I am sorry, sir," he remarked, in an apologetic tone. "You have given the Army much help, and we have listened to many good words from you, but I have received orders not to let you speak again; that is, from the platform."
A painful silence ensued. Then Leighton remarked, with a forced composure and something more than his usual melancholy:
"Because of the unhappy prominence given me by the circumstances attending my father's death?"
"That, and something else. I may as well be frank, sir. We have heard of the little house, leased under your name, in New Jersey."
"Ah!"