“No,” said Frank; “I want to walk back quietly and think.”
“And I don’t mean to let you. There, we’ve had trouble enough before breakfast. Let’s put it aside, and if we can get away go and see the Horse Guards parade, and then listen to the band and see some of the drilling. I want to learn all I can about an officer’s duty, so as not to be like a raw recruit when I get my commission, if I ever do. I say: hungry?”
“I? No.”
“Then you must be. Make a good breakfast, lad. Sir Robert’s safe enough by now, and he’ll be more cautious in future about coming amongst his Majesty’s springes and mantraps. Look yonder; there’s Captain Murray. Who’s that with him?”
“The doctor.”
“So it is. Let’s go and talk to them.”
“No; let them go by before we start for the gate. I feel as if every one will be knowing about last night, and want to question me. I wish I could go away till it has all blown over.”
“But you can’t, Frank; and you must face it out like a man. I say—”
“Well?”
“You’re not likely to see the King, and if you did it’s a chance if he’d know who you are; but you’re sure to see the Prince, and I am a bit anxious to know whether he’ll take any notice about what his page did last night, and if he does, what he’ll say.”