"Oh, that is plain, is it?" sneered Mackenzie.
"Excuse me if I don't express myself very cleverly," said Dick. "What I mean is that somehow you have managed to bully her into running away with you."
They looked into one another's eyes for an instant. The swords were crossed. Mackenzie turned to Cicely. "Did I do that?" he asked quietly.
"If I might suggest," Dick said, before she could reply, "that you don't try and get behind my sister, but speak up for yourself——"
"Did I do that?" asked Mackenzie again.
"O Dick dear," said Cicely, "I said I would come. It was my own fault."
"Your own fault—yes," said Dick. "But I am talking to this—this gentleman, now."
Mackenzie faced him again. "Oh, we're to have all that wash about gentlemen, are we? I'm not a gentleman. That's the trouble, is it?"
"It is part of the trouble," said Dick. "A good big part."
"Do you know what I do with the gentlemen who come worrying me for jobs when I go on an expedition, Captain Clinton—the gentlemen who want to get seconded from your regiment and all the other smart regiments, to serve under me?"