"'I've come,' says the grey-faced man, 'to examine and report upon your system.'
"'For your paper?'
"'Possibly; but to satisfy myself of its efficacy, in the first instance.'
"'You aren't commissioned, then?'
"'No; I come on my own responsibility.'
"'Without consultation with any one?'
"'Absolutely without. I haven't even a wife to advise me,' he says, with a yellow grin. What once passed for cholera had set the bile on his skin like paint, and he had caught a manner of coughing behind his hand like a toast-master.
"'I know,' says the Major, looking him steady in the face, 'that what you say about me and my affairs is sure to be actuated by conscientious motives.'
"'Ah,' he answers. 'You're sore about that review still, I see.'
"'Not at all,' says the Major; 'and, in proof, I invite you to be my guest for the night, and to-morrow I'll show you over the prison and explain my system.'