“Lord bless you! no, sir!” returned Maybee, turning the crown over the half-crown, and the half-crown over the crown in his pocket. “No, he asked me where I conducted you to? I told him 5 in 10. He asked the name of the gentleman you went to visit? I told him ‘Wilton.’ Then he asked me if I knew anything about Mr. Wilton? and I told him no. Was he a scientific man? I said I didn’t know. Had he come up from the country? I couldn’t tell him. He asked me a good many more such questions, but I couldn’t answer him. Then he said he was himself an Indian officer, and had not long returned; he had been away a long, long time he said; but he knew a Mr. Wilton before he went away, and he wondered if he were the same. Of course I told him that I could not answer that question; and then he wished to know the room, and I pointed it out to him, that’s all, sir.”
“Did he mention his own name?” inquired Hal, thoughtfully.
“No, sir; he merely said he was an officer just returned from India, nothing more,” responded Maybee, who felt more disposed for the twopennyworth of beer he had promised himself than ever.
Hal let him go. In less than a minute Mr. Maybee was at the bar and a foaming pint was placed before him.
Hal walked up and down, reflecting upon this event.
He looked after the Indian officer, but he had disappeared, and though he remained in the quadrangle the time he had prescribed for himself to remain away from Wilton’s apartments, he saw nothing more of the man with whom he had come into collision.
The hour having passed, he ascended the stairs with a light step, and paused before the door of No. 5. He fancied he heard voices within, and knocked gently for admission. His summons was, perhaps, not heard, and he repeated it louder. In the interval he was convinced that there were voices which he did not recognise, and this lent a greater firmness to his knock.
He heard old Wilton’s voice exclaim, “Come in,” and he entered.
He was not a little surprised on advancing into the room to perceive the Indian officer, accompanied by a young, dashingly dressed fellow, seated far too near to Flora to be agreeable to him. Old Wilton was standing, and displayed an air of dignity, which Hal, certainly, had never seen him wear before.
There was a silence upon his entrance, and the Indian officer gazed upon him grimly. Old Wilton, however, with a pleasant smile, and the manner of a gentleman, motioned him to a seat, and then, turning to the officer, said—