"Good Lord! with—with Miss Guile?"
"Precisely so, sir."
"Well, I'll be darned!" said the American half of Prince Robin with great fervour.
"Tut, tut, sir," reproved Hobbs, who, as has been said before, was a privileged character by virtue of long service and his previous calling as a Cook's interpreter. "Are you going out, sir?"
"Yes. I'm going out to search the highways and by-ways for Bedelia," said Robin, a gay light in his eyes. "By the way, did you, by any chance, learn the name of the 'andsome young gent as went away with 'er, 'Obbs?"
"I did not, sir. I stood at his helbow for quite some time at the Gare St. Lazare and the only words he spoke that I could hear distinctly was 'wot the devil do you mean, me man? Ain't there room enough for you here without standing on my toes like that? Move hover.' Only, of course, sir, he used the haspirates after a fashion of his own. The haitches are mine, sir."
"Is he an American?"
"It's difficult to say, sir. He may be from Boston, but you never can tell, sir."
"Do you know Boston, Hobbs?" inquired the Prince, adjusting his tie before the mirror.
"Not to speak it, sir," said Hobbs.