"Come, child—no nonsense—I want my key, and I'll have it," replied the General, so awfully that the maid recoiled.
"I think, my lady, he'll be rude if he doesn't get it."
"What's the man like?"
"A nice-spoken gentleman, my lady, and dressed very respectable."
"You never saw General Lennox?"
"No, my lady, please."
Neither had Lady Alice; but she had heard him minutely described.
"A lean ugly old man is he, with white bristly whiskers, you know, and a white head, and little grey eyes, eh?"
They had no notion that their little confidence was so distinctly audible to the General without, who stood eyeing the panel fiercely as a sentry would a suspicious figure near his beat, and with fingers twitching with impatience to clutch his key.
"What sort of nose?" demanded the unseen speaker—"long or short?"