‘I don’t quite like it, colonel. I have really some hesitation about granting this leave. I should be loth to find fault, but your men are at their spring drills, they want plenty of “setting-up;” they don’t stand to their arms quite as I should like altogether. I’m not finding fault, remember, nothing is further from my mind. Still, the adjutant’s eye is wanted just now, and I don’t feel that it ought to be withdrawn.’
‘He is most anxious to go, sir. Private affairs of some urgency require his personal attention.’
‘He rose from the ranks, I believe; what private affairs could he possibly have?’
‘Perhaps you are not aware, general, of Mr. Larkins’ history—that he is the adopted son of an old lady of rank—’
‘Surely there is no truth in that cock-and-bull story?’
‘Pardon me, sir, it is perfectly true. I have the pleasure of knowing the old lady—Lady Farrington. Diggle, you may remember, married a Farrington, but of another branch.’
‘But this Mr. Larkins has no claim, I suppose, to the name—nothing more than a left-handed claim, I mean?’
‘I am not so sure. It may be difficult to prove his case; but he has a case, and a good one. At any rate, the old lady is devotedly attached to him, and likes to see him now and again. She has now written pressing him most earnestly to pay her a visit, thinking, I believe, that something of importance is likely to turn up.’
‘Is this why he asks leave? Has he no other reasons?’