Colonel Dacres took the card and read,
"Commander Basil Dacres, R.N."
"Commander Basil Dacres, R.N.," he repeated. "Wonder who the deuce he is? Some distant relation, I suppose, after something or the other. Sparkes, where's the Navy List?"
"You lent it to Admiral Padbury the morning before last, sir," replied the footman smartly.
"So I did, Sparkes, so I did. Never mind. I'll see this gentleman. Where is he, Sparkes?"
"In the green room, sir."
"What sort of a man is he?"
The footman coughed to clear his throat, and nearly broke a blood-vessel in striving to suppress a grin.
"Cannot say as how I took particular stock of him, sir; but he's a smartish-looking gentleman, sir."
"Then he must belong to our branch of the family," thought the colonel complacently. "But dash it all, what does he want to come just before tiffin for?"