“Yes,” I answered. I could not say why, but I found it difficult to talk to Mrs. Potter; her sharp eyes seemed to stab me like knives.
“But you will soon know everybody,” she continued, with a little air of patronage. “Out here we are all supposed to be in the same set. The set in Secunderabad is embodied by the club—to be a member is our social hall-mark. All the rest are, so to speak, in outer darkness—where I believe there’s a good deal of gnashing of teeth!”
As she was speaking I happened to glance towards the entrance through which people were still coming and going, and there I beheld someone who was not a stranger. It was Captain Falkland, attended by Kipper.
CHAPTER XV
A RENEWED FRIENDSHIP
Captain Falkland presented a striking appearance in his A.D.C. uniform, mounted on a fine black horse. He looked thoroughly at home in the saddle.
“Behold that faithless man!” cried Mrs. Wolfe excitedly; “how am I to get hold of him?”
“I suppose the general has been inspecting something, as he is on duty,” said Mrs. Potter, “and there is the dog that is always at his heels.”
“Lord Runnymede’s only son is dead,” observed a lady, who was now one of the company on “the cake.” “He was always a poor consumptive creature, and Captain Falkland is the next heir. What a chance for some girl!”
“Oh, he’s not a marrying man,” declared Mrs. Wolfe with brisk decision; “he bars girls, and naturally he would never think of one of our ‘spins’ out here.”
In answer to an agitated signal with a newspaper, Captain Falkland approached. He was now on foot.