"To be married!"
"Oh yes; I have heard It dis morning at Eckermann's office. I think it is the talk of the City."
"Who's the gal?" Miggs asked, with languid interest.
"I disremember her name," Von Baumser answered. "It is a girl the major has met—the young lady who has lived in the same house, and is vat they call a warder."
"Not—not his ward?" cried Tom, springing to his feet and turning as white as a sheet. "Not Miss Harston? You don't tell me that he is going to marry Miss Harston?"
"Dat is the name. Miss Harston it is, sure enough."
"It is a lie—an infamous lie!" Tom cried hotly.
"So it may be," Von Baumser answered serenely. "I do but say vat I have heard, and heard more than once on good authority."
"If it is true there is villainy in it," cried Tom, with wild eyes, "the blackest villainy that ever was done upon earth. I'll go—I'll see him to-night. By heavens, I shall know the truth!" He rushed furiously downstairs and through the bar. There was a cab near the door. "Drive into London!" he cried; "69, Eccleston Square. I am on fire to be there!" The cabman sprang on the box, and they rattled away as fast as the horse would go.
This sudden exit caused, as may be imagined, considerable surprise in the parlour of the Cock and Cowslip.