"He said good-bye to you, perhaps?"
"To be sure he did! He was hardly likely to—"
"He didn't ask to see Alice, I suppose?"
"Oh, yes, he did."
"Dear me!" said the Colonel to himself.
"But she could not see him, I grieve to say; it was a thousand pities, seeing that he's going straight back to Australia."
"Oh, he told you that too, did he?"
"Of course, Colonel Bristo, when he said good-bye."
"Dear me! But why wouldn't Alice see him?"
"It was too early."