“Go on, then, and eat your dinner; leave me to my cigar—I 've no appetite. I 'll drop in when you have dined.”
“No, no; you shall come too,—your absence will only make fellows talk; they are talking already.”
“Are they? and in what way?” asked he, sternly.
“Nothing seriously, of course,” mumbled Cave, for he saw how he had fallen into an indiscretion; “but you must come, and you must be yourself too. It's the only way to meet flying rumors.”
“Come along, then,” said Sewell, passing his arm within the other's; and they hurried forward without another word being spoken by either.
It was evident that Sewell's appearance caused some surprise. There was a certain awkward significance in the way men looked at him and at each other that implied astonishment at his presence.
“I didn't know you were down here,” said the old Major, making an involuntary explanation of his look of wonderment.
“Nothing very remarkable, I take it, that a man is stopping at his own house,” said Se well, testily. “No—no fish. Get me some mutton,” added he to the mess-waiter.
“You have heard that we 've got our orders,” said a captain opposite him.
“Yes; Cave told me.”