"Oh, I know a lot more besides that," said Miss Cornell, shaking her finger at him archly. "About you, and Mr. Carson, too. He is going up on a secret expedition into Borapota for the English Government, isn't he?"
"Very secret, apparently," thought Bramham. "How the devil do these things leak out?"
"Something or other, yes," he said aloud.
"They say the English Government thinks an awful lot of him."
"Yes, he's a clever fellow," said Bramham, casually. No one would have supposed him to be speaking of a man dearer to him than a brother. Bramham did not wear his heart where it could be pecked at by the Sophie Cornells of the world.
Poppy got up from the piano, and Bramham got up, too, and looked at his watch.
"I must be off," said he, with a great air of business-hurry, which left him as soon as he got out of the gate.
"Now, don't forget to bring Mr. Abinger next time," Sophie called after him from the verandah; "and that Mr. Carson, too," she added, as an afterthought.
Poppy positively blushed for her.
"Sophie, how can you! It was perfectly plain that he did not want to bring the man—and that he doesn't intend to, anyway. Are you really as dense as you pretend to be?"