“Was n't that the fellow who was broke at Kilmagund?” croaked Haggerstone.
“Something happened to him in India; I never well knew what,” simpered Jekyl. “Some said he had caught the cholera; others, that he had got into the Company's service.”
“By way of a mishap, sir, I suppose,” said the Colonel, tartly.
“He would n't have minded it, in the least. For certain,” resumed the other, coolly, “he was a sharp-witted fellow; always ready to take the tone of any society.”
The Colonel's cheek grew yellower, and his eyes sparkled with an angrier lustre; but he made no rejoinder.
“That's the place to make a fortune, I'm told,” said Dalton. “I hear there's not the like of it all the world over.”
“Or to spend one,” added Haggerstone, curtly.
“Well, and why not?” replied Dalton. “I 'm sure it 's as pleasant as saving barring a man 's a Scotchman.”
“And if he should be, sir? and if he were one that now stands before you?” said Haggerstone, drawing himself proudly up, and looking the other sternly in the face.
“No offence no offence in life. I did n't mean to hurt your feelings. Sure, a man can't help where he 's going to be born.”