'Yes, sir.'
'Good-night, Brown.'
'Good-night, sir.'
'What happened about Brown?' I asked going home.
'Oh,' said Ross, as if the subject frankly bored him, 'matron sent me in a cab to Waterloo, with an orderly to get my ticket. I was sitting in my carriage, trying to turn the evening paper, when Brown said, "Allow me, sir," and then before I could swear at him, he got out into the corridor and the train went off. It was such a swot to try to find him, so there it is.'
'Oh,' I began.
'I am tired, Meg, can't think why she made me come so late; never seems much sense in women's orders.'
The first thing we did on arriving at the lodgings was to fight fiercely about bedrooms. His room looked so pleasant with flowers, a cheerful fire, a box of his favourite cigarettes, and a whole box of matches!
'Very nice,' said the invalid, 'and may I ask where you sleep?'
'Oh, I have a dear little room near by.'