“Of course not.”
“Then don’t you laugh at me. It’s no joke, I can tell you.”
“Why, what is there to mind in the Rajah’s coming?”
“Everything. It means having him come smiling here to make me look like a fool.”
“Nonsense!” said Dick, laughing again.
“Be quiet!” roared Wyatt. “I won’t stand it. Do I look the sort of man to stand and be smirked round and buttered with Eastern compliments? I hate ’em, and I won’t see him when he comes.”
“You must,” said Dick. “We can’t be rude to our friends.”
“Then let them keep away and let me alone. I’d sooner go into the thick of a fight any day.”
Wyatt looked stormy for some time before the clouds began to disappear from his countenance.
Half-an-hour later, as he was sitting with Dick talking about their invalids, who were out in the shady side of the court, and remarking that they might return to duty, he seemed reconciled.