“I appreciate your feeling in the matter. By the way, Steele, there was a very pretty girl with Colonel Beck—a very pretty girl, and charmingly attired. She did not say a word all the time the Colonel was talking, but she looked unutterable things and was deeply interested in our conversation. I thought she was a trifle disappointed when I told the Colonel I didn’t know where you were. I supposed she was the Colonel’s daughter.”
“The chances are,” mused Steele, “that the young lady is Miss Sadie Beck, niece of the old gentleman. She was rather a handsome girl when I knew her.”
“Ah!” drawled the Consul, “then there is no particular reason why she should be anxious regarding your whereabouts?”
“None that I am aware of.”
“I see. Well, are you going back to America after all?”
“I haven’t quite made up my mind what I shall do, Jimmy, except that I shall call at your office in the morning, and there mature my plans, with your assistance.”
“If you call at my office, you are more than likely to run against Colonel Beck. I expect him there bright and early.”
“By Jove! I had forgotten about the Colonel. Still, there is no hurry. I can drop in later, when the Colonel has moved on.”
All arrangements, however, bow to Chance, and Chance now intervened to upset their plans. A burly, florid-faced man with white moustache loomed up before them, and a heavy hand smote Steele on the shoulder with a force that made him wince and bite his lip to restrain a cry of resentment. “Hallo, John, old man!” shouted the stranger, “I am mighty glad to see you. Been searching the town for you; called on that stuck-up Consul of ours, but he pretended he knew nothing about you. I suppose he thought I believed him, but the undersigned wasn’t born yesterday, and I had met talented prevaricators before. Oh by Jingo! this you, Consul? I didn’t notice you at first. Well, I stick to all I said. You told me this evening that you didn’t know where John Steele was, and now I find you sitting here with him. I think, by Jingo! that you owe me an apology.”
“I owe you nothing, Colonel, not even my appointment. Every man who drifts in on me appears to think I am indebted to him for my place. I beg to inform you that it is no part of a Consul’s duty to bestow addresses upon any stranger who happens to ask for them.”