"Oh, now, you are quite another man."
"I'm glad you think that," said John aloud, and to himself he added, "my clever lady, you never spoke a truer word in your iniquitous life."
"The change in you is so marked," went on Mrs. Beecher Monmouth, "that Captain Cherriton actually doubted your loyalty to us. He regarded your escape from Scotland Yard authorities as so sudden."
"Ah," protested John, "but I was mistaken for another man."
"Of course, I know that, you silly boy! But Cherriton could not rest satisfied until he had discovered that there actually existed a person called John Manton, and that you had really been mistaken for this personage."
John made a mental note that in Cherriton he had an adversary of no mean order.
"I hope," said he, "now that Captain Cherriton has discovered my story to be true, he won't suspect me again."
"As for that," responded the lady, "he suspects his own shadow. But you are very high in favour just at the moment."
"His favour is worth having?" probed John.
"We shall discover that," said Mrs. Beecher Monmouth. Her tone suddenly became fervent, almost exalted. "After the war there will be great things for us all. Now is the time to sow; then will be the time to reap the harvest!"