“No—no!” he continued, with a forced smile. “Not a woman. It’s only a man; indeed only a thing in the shape of one.”
“Explain, captain! Who, or what is he?”
“Well, it’s simply an affair. About an hour ago I slapped a fellow in the face.”
“Ha!”
“There’s been a ball to-night—in the hotel, here.”
“I know it. I met some of the people going away. Well?”
“There was a young lady—”
“I might have known that, too. Who ever heard of an affair without a lady, young or old, at the bottom of it? But excuse me for interrupting you.”
“After all,” said Maynard, apparently changing his tack, “I needn’t stay to tell you about the lady. She had little or nothing to do with it. It occurred in the bar-room after the ball was over, and she in her bed, I suppose.”
“Leave her to one side then, and let her sleep.”