"Stop all your idiotic chatter, Mr. Ferrers, and listen to me with whatever little power of concentration you may possess. Your conduct, sir, has been wholly unfitting an officer and a gentleman. If I did my full duty I'd order you in arrest at once, and have you brought to trial before a general court-martial. You have visited upon yourself a disgrace that you can't wipe out in a year. You have—but what's the use? You wouldn't understand!"
"I'm a little dull just now, sir," agreed Algy. "But after a bath and a long night's sleep I'll be as fresh as ever."
"You'll have neither bath nor sleep!" retorted the colonel testily. "You'll go to your quarters and get into your uniform without a moment's delay. You'll be back here in fifteen minutes, or I'll order you in arrest. And you'll finish out your tour of guard duty. You'll be on duty and awake, sir, until the old guard goes off to-morrow morning. More, you'll remain all that time at the guard house, so that the sergeant of the guard can be sure that you are awake."
"Good heavens!" murmured Algy.
"Further, Mr. Ferrers, until further orders, you will not step off the limits of the post without express permission from either myself or Major Silsbee. Now, go to your quarters, sir—and don't dare to be gone more than fifteen minutes."
Lieutenant Prescott, hearing some one move in Mr. Ferrers' rooms, looked in inquiringly.
"Oh, but I'm in an awful hurry. I've got to get back to that beastly colonel," explained Algy.
"Beastly? Colonel North is a fine old brick!" retorted Prescott indignantly.
"Well, he has an—er—most peculiar temper at times," insisted Algy. "Why, he seemed positively annoyed because I had obeyed the social instinct and had gone away to meet old friends of our family."
"Have you any idea what you did to-day?" demanded Lieutenant Prescott. "Ferrers, you've been guilty of conduct that is sufficient to get an officer kicked out of the service for good and all."