The little house was quite near the railway, a gabled, two-storied cottage with diamond-paned windows, and creepers and roses all over its walls. Even yet on the sheltered side there was a monthly rose or two on the leafless bushes. The house basked in the sun; and Mrs. Langrishe's red-and-white collie came to meet the General, wagging his tail with a friendly greeting.
The maid who opened the door smiled on him. She knew him for Miss Nelly's father; and Nelly had a way of making herself beloved by servants wherever she went, and not only because she was ready always to empty her little purse among them.
Mrs. Langrishe? Mrs. Langrishe was out, but was expected in to lunch. The Captain had just come in. Would Sir Denis see him?
Sir Denis would see the Captain. He followed the maid through the clean, orderly little house, every inch of it shining with the perfection of cleanliness, to the study at the back which opened on the garden. Captain Langrishe was sitting in a chair in a dejected attitude at the moment the General first caught sight of him. He sprang to his feet, turning red and pale when he saw who his visitor was.
"Well, my lad," the General said, taking the uninjured left hand in a cordial grip. "And how do you feel?"
Langrishe looked up at him with shy eyes.
"To tell the truth, Sir Denis, not very cheerful. I have been, in fact, keeping company with the blue devils pretty well since I came home. You know——"
"Yes, I know. We must hope for the best. But, if you can't carry a sword any longer, why it must mean that the Master of us all has another post for you. And now, why didn't you come to Sherwood Square?"
"I couldn't, with this in suspense," Langrishe stammered. "It is most kind of you to come to see me."
"My dear boy," the General put his hand on Langrishe's shoulder, "you must come, with this in suspense. Do you know that my girl has looked for you day after day?"