'Nobody knows who that illustrious individual was. I suppose he doesn't know himself, though he must have had one.'
'And his mother?'
'Was a singer, or actress, or something of that kind. Folks in the musical world, like folks on the turf, all know something of each other, and so this fellow, Von Humstrumm, assured me that—that it is all as I say; and thus his excellence as a singer and pianist is accounted for at once. The Herr told me that he had performed at her private concerts given in the house of a noble lady in Belgravia, when the inner drawing-room was turned into quite a beautiful bijou salon de concert, and even royalty was present. Pretty circumstantial that!'
'Extraordinary!'
'Not at all; there is nothing extraordinary in this world. Thus I should not wonder if the fellow once figured before the footlights! Gad, if the Cameronians only knew of this, they'd put him in Coventry—force him to quit!'
'Then how the devil does this band-master come to know, if they don't?' said Sir Piers, pacing the room in great annoyance of spirit. 'I don't understand all this! Was he not a Sandhurst cadet?'
'I don't know, and don't care,' responded Hew, with an access of sullenness.
'He certainly seems a finished gentleman!'
'I have heard you admire his hands as being white and shapely,' said Hew, with a sneer.
'Yes; but what of that?'