"Very," said Mr. Leicester, looking at her, thoughtfully. "Captain Murpoint came unexpectedly?"
"Quite," said Violet.
Leicester Dodson toyed with his fork.
"Do you remember him?" he asked.
"I have never seen him before," replied Violet, quietly. "But he is such an old personal friend. My father never wrote me a letter without mentioning him."
Leicester, with all the interest he felt showing plainly in his face, nodded.
"They met in India, of course. Captain Murpoint must be a younger man than Mr. Mildmay would have been."
"Yes," said Violet, "much younger. Papa told me how much once, but I have forgotten."
Then her aunt spoke to her, and Leicester fell into a muse. Captain Murpoint's advent seemed to have struck all his eloquence dumb.
The rest of the guests were chattering with quite a mild excitement, but he sat turning the fork over and following the pattern of the tablecloth with that grim silence which did not sit ill upon him, though it would have made some men look sullen.