"Then I will go in unannounced."
General Lockhart looked up from the papers he was reading, and gave a sudden start.
"I have come to report myself ready for duty, sir," Lisle said, with a smile.
"Good heavens! Mr. Bullen, you have given me quite a turn! We had all regarded your death as certain; and your name appeared in the list of casualties, five months ago.
"I am truly glad to see you again," and he heartily shook Lisle's hand. "There is another in here who will be glad to see you."
He opened the door, and said:
"Colonel Houghton, will you step in here, for a moment?"
As the colonel entered the room, and his eye fell upon Lisle, he stood as if suddenly paralysed. The blood rushed from his cheeks.
"I am glad to see that you have recovered from your wound, sir," Lisle said.
The blood surged back into the colonel's face. He strode forward and, grasping both Lisle's hands in his own, said in broken accents: