Now this noble Under-Secretary who had been an official all his life—for he succeeded to his peerage in an accidental fashion—who looked like a ramrod, and who was reputed to be such a bore, was yet a man with a kind heart, an appreciation of worth and a sense of justice. Perhaps it was these qualities, or some of them, which caused him to answer:
“Well, you know best, and if so, it shows that the alphabetical system works better than might have been expected. But now give me your opinion, and you too, Lady Devene, on this case. An officer posted a picket outside a square. The square was attacked, picket cut off. Result of the attack indecisive, enemy being in possession of the bush about the square. Officer who posted the picket rather badly hurt by a spear through the shoulder—”
“I beg you,” broke in Rupert; but Lord Southwick went on imperturbably:
“A wounded man crept into the square at night saying that he had survived the massacre of the picket and got through the enemy, but that the sergeant who was stabbed through the leg lay in a clump of bush about six hundred yards away, and had not yet been discovered by the Arabs, who occupied a donga in great force between the camp and the said clump of bush. It being impracticable to send a rescue party, the wounded officer dresses himself up in the jibba and turban of a dead Arab, and thus disguised, gets through the donga, finds the wounded man, and a storm coming on, contrives somehow or other to lead, or rather to carry him back to camp, doing the last hundred yards under a heavy fire both from the Arabs and our own sentries. Now did that officer deserve the Victoria Cross?”
“Ach! mein Gott, I should think so,” said the phlegmatic Lady Devene, with a force quite foreign to her nature as it was commonly understood by her surroundings. “What was the name of that brave man? I should like to know it.”
“I forget,” answered Lord Southwick, with a stony grin. “Ask Colonel Ullershaw. He may remember the incident.”
“Who was it, Rupert?” said Edith, and the whole long table listened for the reply.
Then was the Recording Angel forced to add another to the list of Rupert’s crimes, for he lied, and boldly.
“I don’t know, I am sure. Never heard of the business; but if it happened at all, I should say that the story has been greatly exaggerated.”
A smile and a titter went round the table, and the Under-Secretary grinned again and changed the subject.