'What do you think her family found out?' she asked, addressing Dalton, to his surprise.
'That he was no colonel at all, perhaps,' said he.
'Oh, worse than that.'
'Worse!—what could be worse?'
'I do not care to think, Mrs. Trelawney—not knowing the parties—that he was a criminal, perhaps.'
'Worse still.'
'Good heavens, Laura!' exclaimed Alison.
'And he proposed for her?'
'Yes; was it not horrible, Captain Dalton?'
'Don't appeal to me,' he replied, abruptly.