"Thank you very much, Mrs. Swaine, I should like to, but I'm afraid my husband——"
"Oh, I'll come," said Hector.
"Capital," said the lady. "Well, I must be off, I've got all sorts of things to see about. Good-bye, you two, so glad," and away trotted Mrs. Swaine, leaving silence behind her.
"Hector dear," said Lucy, after a pause, "you didn't mind what that woman said? She's a good soul really, only tactless."
"Not I," said Hector, "but you were saying something when she came in. You asked me if I knew——"
"Oh yes, General Quentin, such a curious person, Hector. They call him Golliwog here, and I should say he has about as much intelligence. Really, I don't think I ever met such a dull person in my life before."
"He's one of the few men I know, Lucy, whose opinion I respect. Also, he's the only fellow in the army from whom I ever learnt anything."
"Good gracious, Hector," said Lucy, surprised, for such commendation of a military superior was something very novel. "I didn't know you'd ever seen the man. Tell me about it."
"Oh, it was after that Mortlock affair, he spoke to me then, snubbed Schofield too—did it jolly well."
"That was nice of him, Hector, and of course I only saw him for a few minutes; he didn't even know my name. I'll tell you what we'll do, we'll invite him to dinner."