'Yes?' said James, thinking it was about time.
'Rodman,' said Colonel Carteret, 'or rather, George—I may call you George?' he added, with a sort of wistful diffidence that had a singular charm.
'Certainly,' replied James, 'if you wish it. Though my name is James.'
'James, eh? Well, well, it amounts to the same thing, eh, what, damme, by gad?' said the colonel with a momentary return of his bluff soldierly manner. 'Well, then, James, I have something that I wish to say to you. Did Miss Maynard—did Rose happen to tell you anything about myself in—er—in connexion with herself?'
'She mentioned that you and she were engaged to be married.'
The colonel's tightly drawn lips quivered.
'No longer,' he said.
'What?'
'No, John, my boy.'
'James.'